I'm not stubborn!
by Squibbert
Summary: Are they best friends? Yes. Do they live together? Yes. But there's absolutely NOTHING even remotely romantic going on between them! Draco and Hermione are two of the most stubborn people imaginable, so they'd never admit it. But isn't there a saying that goes "actions speak louder than words"? Fluff, very fluffy, and mostly nonsense. Some coarse language and adult situations.
1. Chapter 1

"Honey, I'm home!" he announced as he stepped out of the fireplace dusting some ash off his Tom Ford suit.

The greeting had stared as a mock on conventional customs about relationships and gender norms, but it had stuck and quickly became routine. Not that it meant anything.

"How did the meeting go?" she asked from where she sat by the kitchen table reading a report.

He entered the kitchen and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, like he always did. She, in turn, let out a small hum of content, like she always did.

"Urgh, it went awful. You'd think there's a daft oaf running the company." he walked over to the stove and inspected the stew simmering in the pot. "Mmh, smells good."

Hermione looked up from her papers:

"Malfoy, _you're_ running the company."

"Oh, I suppose you're right. I mean you'd think there's a daft, _devilishly handsome_ , oaf running the company." he smirked.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Gringotts didn't agree to the loan, eh?" she asked.

"Sadly no. They said the risk management strategy lacked some vital parts. But hey, fuck 'em. I'll have Pansy add some fancy words to it and it'll be alright. But enough about that. Right now it's time for the unveiling of _This_ _Friday's Fancy Flask_." Draco pulled a wrapped bottle from his saddlebag and placed it on top of Hermione's papers.

Hermione looked from the bottle to Draco in mild annoyance. Draco, not the least bit phased by her attitude, said,

"Granger, it's six o'clock on a bloody Friday night. It's time to stop working and drink ridiculously expensive alcohol with your room mate."

Said and done.

An hour later the stew was eaten and both Draco and Hermione were sitting on the sofa in their living room drinking a ridiculously expensive Pinot Noir.

They'd had been living together in the flat they shared in downtown London for little more than six months now. If you'd asked either one of them if they could ever see themselves living together (or even be friends for that matter) four years ago, right after the war ended, they'd laughed in your face and called you mental. But time has a funny thing of changing things, hasn't it?

First they'd spent their eight year at Hogwarts together. At the start of the term things had been a bit awkward as all who returned for the additional year shared a common room. But when you're living together, sweating over impossible exams and at the same time trying to sort out rather strong symptoms of PTSD together for a whole year you form a bond. No doubt.

After graduation they'd stayed friends, neither of them ready yet to give up the comfort they'd discovered in each other.

For Draco it was having someone who knew him, all of him, and still accepting him. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why but Hermione had just forgiven him and decided to accept him as a friend, warts and all.

For Hermione it was having someone who made her better. Growing up Draco had had the same spurring effect on her but back then it had been toxic, a need to prove herself worthy. Now it was encouraging but not without him reminding her to _live_ as well. He helped her sort out her priorities, reminding her she only worked to be able to live and not the other way around.

It was now three years after graduation and all their friends and family seemed to have accepted the oddity that was their friendship and no one even raised an eyebrow when seven months ago Hermione moved into Draco's flat when she and Ron broke up.

"Well, you can't see either one with out the other any way." their friends had all shrugged.

Oddly enough even Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy seemed to be accepting of their friendship and constantly had them over for dinner. Dinners that always included Lucius bringing out the finest bottle in the house. The tradition of _This Friday's Fancy Flask_ had started as a joke on that two months earlier.

"Well, do I detect…" Draco said, in the most self-important manner he could - and no one did self-important better than Draco Malfoy-, as he stuck his nose all the way into the wine glass, "… a scent of bubotuber pus?"

Hermione chuckled.

"Hm, I was going to say I discern the unmistakable aroma of rotting owl carcass." She swirled the glass and took a sip. "Yeah, absolutely rotting owl carcass."

Draco laughed.

"Since when did you become such a connoisseur?"

"Since you dragged me along every time you went to went to see your parents. We can't even pop by for tea without Lucius having to bring out some posh flask." she said trailing her index finger along the rim of her glass.

"Are the Malfoys' spoiling you, darling?" he mocked.

Hermione slapped his shoulder before putting her glass down on the coffee table and lay down across the sofa, her knees bent up towards the ceiling.

"Yeah, my life is so hard." she sighed theatrically.

Draco gave her a small smirk and put her feet to rest in his lap:

"Speaking of which, mum invited us to dinner at the Manor next week."

Hermione rolled her eyes: "Why this time? Is she setting us up with someone or is she trying to set us up with each other?"

Even though Hermione and Draco called each other their best friend, lived together, and were more than comfortable with physical contact their relationship wasn't romantic. Nor had it ever been. They were well aware that their friends and family had a hard time believing they weren't having it off, but the truth was they weren't.

That would make thing complicated, now wouldn't it?

And they'd both agreed they didn't need complicated.

That's why they had the rule of a non-sexual and non-romantic relationship. Never had they shared a kiss, never had they slept together and never had they seen each other naked. Well, the last bit wasn't exactly true. On more than one occasion, sadly, had Hermione walked into the apartment only to find Draco butt naked in some strange position with one of his latest lovers. She understood sex was his way of coping with the stress of life. She just wished he didn't have to cope on their shared kitchen table.

"Don't know, guess we'll see come dinner." Draco shrugged and started massaging her feet.

"If your mother tries to set me up with Marcus Flint again I'm never seeing your parents again." Hermione muttered.

Draco let out a laugh.

"Why? You didn't like it the last time she tried to set you two up and he went on and on about the symptoms of dragon pox?" He squeezed her right foot just hard enough, which made Hermione gasp.

"Oh my God, that's brilliant!"

"I know, you could almost think I've got a magic touch." he smirked, working his way up her calf.

"Mmmmhm." She closed her eyes, let her head fall back to rest on the armrest and ran her fingers through her long, brown curls.

"Alright, don't enjoy yourself too much." he warned, only half serious of course.

He'd never admit it, not even to himself, but hearing her make the little content noises when he touched her moved something deep within him.

She popped herself up on her elbows, "Want to watch a film? I picked one up on my way home from work."

"Is it Batman?" he said a little too enthusiastically.

She shook her head and tsked:

"What's with this obsession over Batman?"

"Batman is my favourite movie of all times. I mean, a handsome millionaire heroically saving the day again and again while everyone else just stands around and watches. It's basically the story of my life." Draco gestured with his left hand to emphasise his obvious point.

Hermione answered by kicking him loosely on his arm.

"Prat."

"If it isn't Batman then what is it?" He tilted his head slightly meaning she'd better picked something Batman-worthy, at least.

"It's a new thriller that just came out on DVD. It's called _The Ring._ " She reached for the DVD that lay underneath the coffee table and showed him the cover.

"Is it any good?" He arched an eyebrow examining the cover.

The concept of the telly and movies was introduced to him when Hermione moved in and ever since he'd been fascinated by it.

"I don't know, obviously I haven't watched it yet." she rolled her eyes and rose from the sofa. "You make the popcorn and I'll put the film on."

Horror movies and thrillers were their favourites. Although there were few they actually found scary since much seemed bleak compared to living a war. But perhaps it was something about the atmosphere a horror movie created which allowed Hermione to snuggle up to Draco's side and allowed him to wrap his arm around her shoulder that was alluring about the genre.

"Who the fuck comes up with this nonsense?" Draco snorted as the credits rolled.

"I know! A child trapped in a well? Oldest trick in the book." Hermione said and took a sip of wine.

"Do you think, since we've now also watched the tape, that the girl in the well will come for us?" Draco turned to face Hermione.

"No, I think the logics of the tape is that if you watch a recording of the original tape the girl won't haunt you." she put the glass down. "I mean, we didn't watch the actual tape, did we? We watched the tape being played on a telly on _our telly_."

"Guess we'll know for sure in… _seven days_." Draco spoke the last words in a croaking voice that did the voice from the film well justice.

"Well, your room is closest to the telly. So when the girl climbs out and starts tearing your eyes out I'll probably hear it and I'll have time to run away." she said and rose from the sofa.

"And just leave me to die?" he said and tossed a pillow at her. "You're the worst best friend I have."

"I'm the only best friend you have, love." she snickered and tossed it back at him. "Your turn to do the dishes."

With the dishes cleared Draco called out to the living room:

"Hey, Granger! Did you get the eerie call from the girl in the well yet?"

When he didn't receive an answer he walked back into the living room where the sight of Hermione lying on the sofa reading a book, her feet up on the backrest, met him. She seemed absorbed by the book and completely oblivious of his presence as he walked over and sat down next to her. Moments went by and he counted her turning pages four times before she looked up at him.

"Oh, you're back. Sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

Draco couldn't help but smile a little at the surprise in her voice.

She marked the page and put the book down on the floor.

"Yeah, and no phone call telling me I'm going to die in seven day. Thank you for asking." he smirked. "What are you reading?"

"A book." she answered.

"I know what a book looks like, Granger. What's it about?" he arched an eyebrow at her.

"Um, I'm not really sure. It's about a woman in 19th century Scotland." she answered vaguely as scanned the back of the book.

"You're at the end, aren't you? Yet you have still no idea what it's about?"

She sighed and swung one of her legs over his head and rested each of her legs on either of his shoulders. He watched patiently, knowing the sigh and the body movement was a sign that what she was about to tell him was something she'd rather not.

"Don't laugh, yeah?" she said.

"Promise." He held his hand across his heart.

"Well sometimes… well most times… alright always… I read the ending first." For some reason a faint blush tinted her cheeks and Draco strongly suspected _that_ wasn't the reason she blushed.

"Yeah, why?" He asked giving her an intent look.

She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.

"Stop looking at me like that, Malfoy!"

"Right, if you insist on being a stubborn moron. Fine." he said and turned 180 degrees and lay down between her legs, the back of his head resting on her stomach. "There, I'm not looking at you. Now tell me why you start at the end."

Another sigh escaped her.

"Fine. I do because I want to know how it ends."

"I'm not that thick. Why is that important? Doesn't that mean you won't be surprised when you read the rest?" he asked and absentmindedly ran his fingertips down her legs.

"No. I mean sure. But I don't like being surprised all that much. I like to know how things turn out in the end before I get too invested." She started playing with his hair.

"Is that because you're an insufferable control freak?" he asked, sincere.

"No, you tosser." she chuckled but then took on a more serious tone, "It's because things might not work out as I want. And I don't want to get disappointed."

Suddenly Draco got the feeling she wasn't just talking about books anymore. He shifted to lie on his stomach so that they were now face to face.

"Does that apply to books or life in general?" he asked.

"I'd have to say life in general. I hate not knowing if things will be alright." she said, her voice so soft he hadn't heard her unless he'd been less then 10 inches away.

"Do you feel that way about us as well? About me?" He regretted asking it as soon as the word left his mouth. Not because he didn't want to know, more that he was dreading the answer.

Hermione stroke some hair out of his eyes and gently brushed his cheek with her knuckles.

"Sometimes, yeah." she smiled a soft, sad smile.

"Granger, you're my best friend. And I'll be yours as long as you'll let me. Nothing's going to change that fact." Draco smiled, a smile that made Hermione involuntarily blush.

"But what will happen down the line, Malfoy? What happens when your mother successfully sets you up with the woman of your dreams? Do you think she'd accept walking into the room and finding us like this?" Hermione asked.

 _Not this bloody talk again_. Draco thought, slightly annoyed.

They'd had this conversation before.

Many times before…

And for certain reasons…

They'd both dated others before and safe to say all of those relations had been, to put it mildly, _bothered_ by Hermione and Draco's peculiar relationship. Since both Pansy and Ron had been around to see their relationship form they, Pansy and Ron, hadn't been bothered the same way, as they knew the history.

But the ones after that…

That had been a different matter. Like that one bloke, the Muggle barista, Hermione dated for three months who decided to break it off when Draco for the hundredth time barged into Hermione's room to borrow a toothbrush. Apparently the Muggle barista though 'Draco had no boundaries'.

Or that pretty little blond witch from France Draco had seen three months back who'd stormed out of the flat when she'd found Hermione's bra in Draco's bedroom. It didn't matter that Draco had explained the bra had ended up there when he'd used it as a slingshot to throw water balloons at Hermione. No, somehow that was even _worse_!

"Granger, we've had this conversation before. If a woman I'm supposed to live the rest with my life with can't accept my relationship with you it's a deal breaker. I've told you." Draco said and put his head to rest on her chest. "And besides, I don't think my mother could ever find me the woman of my dreams. No one could ever compare to you."

Just as he said it he realised how it sounded. And apparently so did Hermione because he felt how her breath hitched.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked in a voice more high pitched than normal.

"Yeah, I realise what that sounds like. But it's true, innit? You know I adore you, Granger. Being with you is easy. No relationship I've ever had has been this easy."

"But we have rules. We don't do romance or sex. Because it sure sounds like that's what you're implying we should do." She sat up forcing Draco to sit up as well.

"Come on, Granger. Have you honestly never thought about breaking those rules?"

"No, because both you and I agreed that romance or sex can't be done without things getting complicated and eventually it ruins everything. And as I remembered it this…" she pointed back and forth between them, "… happened in the first place because we were so sick and tired of complicated."

"Do you think I'm fit?" His question caught her of guard and she stared blankly at him.

"Um… I… Well… Fuck it. Yes." she stuttered and blushed again.

"And I already know you love me since I'm your best friend. So now the question is; are you sexually attracted to me?" he smirked.

"No." her answer came too quickly and his smirk grew wider.

"So you _have_ though about breaking the rules."

"Malfoy I'm not having this discussion with you!" She rose from the sofa and started walking out of the living room.

"Oh, come on Granger! Just admit you _do_ want to shag me!" he called after her.

"It's called living in denial, you moron!" she shouted slamming the door to her room.

She tossed herself on the bed mentally cursing that stupid, gorgeous, ferret-faced bastard.

Of course she was attracted to him, who wouldn't be? Did that mean she was in love with him? Of course not!

He was Draco sodding Malfoy, for Merlin's sake.

Was he her best friend? Yes, he was. And he had been for the last three years. It was only natural she cared for him. Hell. She'd even go as far as to say she loved him. Did that mean she had romantic feelings for him? Preposterous!

As she lie in her bed, just about to drift off to sleep, she heard a rasping sound outside her door, as if someone dragging their nails on the other side of it.

She sighed in annoyance.

"Knock it off, Malfoy. It isn't funny!"

The rasping stopped and Hermione turned in her bed, finding a more comfortable position.

A moment later her door opened soundlessly and a streak of light from the hallway outside shined in to her bedroom, but there was no one to be seen in the doorway.

"Malfoy, I swear to Merlin I'll hex your balls off if you try to scare me." she muttered and popped herself up on her elbows and turned on the lamp on her bedside table.

She watched and listened but still no sound and no one to be seen. Suddenly she felt a pair of hands grabbing her feet at the foot of the bed and against her will she let out a shrill shriek.

"Fucking hell! Fuck you, Malfoy!" she yelled and tossed one of her pillows at him as he stood up laughing.

"I'm sorry, Granger. I couldn't resist." he laughed as he caught the pillow. "Hey, did you get new sheets?"

"Don't change the subject. I'm mad at you!" she sneered.

"Oh, you _did_ get new sheets. Satin, innit?" he crawled onto her bed and ran his hands over her freshly made sheets.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Why are you _this_ invested in my bed sheets?"

"Well, there might have been a small accident involving my own." he confessed still caressing her sheets.

"Did this accident involve popcorn, by any chance?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe." he smiled a sort of apologetic smile. As close to apologetic Malfoy could manage, at least.

Hermione sighed but couldn't help but smile a bit; this wasn't the first time Malfoy had taken the leftover popcorns into bed with him and ended up spilling it all over his bed.

"Do you wish to sleep in here tonight?" she asked.

"Well, if you insist. I know how jumpy you get after we watch a horror movie." he said airily as he pulled off his shirt and crawled in under the blanket.

There was always a reason as to why they ended up sharing a bed. If it wasn't the spilled popcorn that made him come to her it was the thunder that made her come to him. If it wasn't that it was the nightmares that made them come to each other. If it wasn't that it was yet another reason. The point was it was always a reason; it was never because they simply wanted to.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him yet again but all the same she cuddled up next to him with her head in the crook of his neck and wrapped her arm around his waist. She took a deep breath inhaling his scent. His scent that always made her feel calm and safe. At home.

"Is there any chance I got to you by telling you the girl in the well would come for you first?" she smirked against his neck.

Draco put his arm around her and started gently running his fingers through her hair.

"Hush now, don't project your fears on me, love. I'll protect you from the little girl in the telly." He placed a gently kiss on the top of her head. "And besides, I know you're in love with me and you want me to spend the night in your bed."

"I'm not in love with you, Malfoy." she said calmly.

"I'm not in love with you either, Granger." he answered, equally calm.

It wasn't long after that they both drifted off to sleep, still in the tight embrace, just like they'd done so many nights before.

* * *

 **So, I'm well aware this trope has been done about a million times before, but I just love it and couldn't help myself!**

 **Never the less, let me know your thoughts on it!**

 **Cheers!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, so, when I last posted I was absolutely sure I would make this a one shot. I really was. But then the story kept living it's own life in my head and I couldn't help myself so here's another chapter.**

* * *

"Come on, Hermione. I promise you it'll be fun!"

Ginny Weasley was sitting on the edge of Hermione's desk giving Hermione her best impression of puppy-dog-eyes.

"Ginny, no. I hate playing football. You know that." Hermione sighed as she sorted through the parchments on her desk around where her friend was sitting.

"Oh, like that's the real reason we're going. You don't even have to play. Just come with us. It feels like Harry and I haven't seen you in forever!" Ginny pouted.

"We see each other all the time. I see Harry at work ever day. And you're here quite a lot as well, I might add." Hermione stacked her parchments in a neat pile.

"Yeah, but it's not the same." Ginny ran her fingers through her wild, fiery hair. "We'll bring some beer. I guarantee you you'll enjoy it."

Hermione sighed in resignation:

"Fine. I'll come. But would it be alright to bring-"

"Malfoy? Yeah, wouldn't have it any other way." Ginny gave her friend a crooked smile and stood up.

"I was going to say _bring wine_ , but since you basically insist I'll ask him if he'd like to join." she smirked, a facial expression many of her friends swore she'd picked up from Malfoy.

"Sure you were. See you at Finsbury Park. Five o'clock!" Ginny said as she left the office.

Hermione picked up her muggle mobile phone and texted Draco.

Hermione: How's the new and improved risk management strategy coming?

Three minutes later her phone buzzed with a reply.

Draco: The devilishly handsome oaf is a bloody genius ;) Gringotts accepted and we got the loan

Hermione: Congratulations! :D Knew you'd pull it off! :* We should celebrate tonight!

Draco: Absolutely! Got something in mind?

Hermione: Football and beer with Ginny and Harry? Finsbury Park, five o'clock :)

Draco: Idk… seems like a boring crowd…

Hermione: Knock it off!

Draco: But I'd much rather celebrate alone with you than hang out with Potter and Weaslett :( you're my favourite person, Granger

Hermione: Quit playing the martyr. It'll be fun!

Draco: Weaslett already asked and said you'd go, didn't you?

Hermione: Yeah… please come with me. I don't want to be the third wheel :/

Draco: Alright. If you promise I'll get to cross-check Potter then I'm in

Hermione: There's no cross-checking in football. You're thinking of hockey…

Draco: Can't hear you… Bad reception…

Hermione: That's not how texting works… I know you know that, Malfoy -.-

Draco: Still can't hear you. See you there. Love you, bye!

Hermione: ..|..

Draco: :*

It had taken a while but Hermione eventually convinced Draco get a mobile phone. As it turned out he was surprisingly tech savvy, even by Muggle standards. But teaching him special characters and how they translated into emoticons was another story entirely. But here they were, two years of nagging, and he'd really gotten the hang of it.

The rest of the day flew by awfully quickly and at six o'clock Hermione, Draco, Ginny and Harry was sitting on a blanket with a beer in their hands. Well, in all fairness, a wineglass in Hermione's.

"I love these lazy summer nights!" Ginny sighed content and leaned her back against Harry's.

"Enjoy it while it last, Weaslett. There's a thunderstorm coming in a couple of hours." Draco smirked and took a sip of his beer.

"Mmhm. So glad you were able to join us tonight, Malfoy. Always the joy-spreader." Harry rolled his eyes in mock annoyance.

At this point in Draco and Hermione's friendship Draco had been forced to spend enough time with Hermione's friends that he now actually couldn't call them anything less than his own friends. Calling each other by their last name was still up to date, but he'd since long dropped abusive nicknames such at _Scar Head_ and _Weasel_.

"Spreading the joy is my only goal, Potter." Draco winked and raised his beer in a toast.

"Alright, enough of this. We came here to play football and we've been sitting here for an hour already wasting our time!" Ginny put down her empty flask and stood up. "Let's play already!"

Hermione chuckled at her friend, always so impatient.

"Right. Teams?" Harry asked and stood up as well.

"Me and Weaslett against you and Granger." Draco stood up as well and held out his hand to help Hermione up.

"Hang on!" Hermione said accusatory. "I know you don't want to be on Harry's team since you want to cross-check him. But you picked Ginny because you don't want me to be on your team. Why?"

"What? No reason." Draco said, failing miserably to look as innocent as he wished.

"You always do things for a reason! You think I'm bad at football, don't you?" Hermione frowned.

"Granger, of course I don't think you're bad at football. I think you're _dreadful_ and I want to win." Draco said reassuringly and gave Hermione a kiss on her forehead.

"Such betrayal!" Hermione hissed.

"It's all about winning. Don't take it personally, love." Draco put a stray lock of hair behind Hermione's ear. The gesture, just like the kiss on the forehead, would under any other circumstance have been a sign of endearment, but done like this it was simply belittling and Hermione gave Draco a sour look.

"You're such a prat! I'm supposed to be your _best friend_!" she hissed venomously.

Draco shrugged, as if to tell her anything was allowed as long you win.

"That's the spirit, Malfoy! Winning is everything!" Ginny supported.

"Don't worry, Hermione. We'll show them." Harry winked encouragingly.

"Yeah, our team has already got the moral high ground." Hermione walked over to stand beside Harry.

"So, should we play shirts versus skins? I'll take my shirt off." Draco said and started pulling his shirt off.

"No one asked you to take your shirt off, Malfoy. Stop volunteering to taking your shirt off!" Harry snapped.

"Can't hear you, Potter. Shirt's over my ears!"

"You're just saying that 'cause you're afraid Malfoy's super white complexion will blind you." Ginny grinned as she, too, took her shirt off.

Hermione sighed, of course Ginny would be prepared for the sports event by wearing a sport bra and sport shorts. She looked at her own outfit of dressier jersey pants and a plain tank top and definitely no sport bra, not nearly as sporty as her friend. Ginny really was just at competitive as Draco.

"Well you're no better, Gin. You're just as pale as Malfoy. Your team should be the shirt's team!" Harry complained.

"Too bad you were too slow then." Draco smirked and started kicking the football.

Their empty bottles served as goalposts and the game begun. It wasn't really a fair game, in all honesty. One would think Hermione and Harry, having grown up with Muggles and the sport, would have an advantage over the pureblood wizard and witch. But that wasn't the case. Harry was descent. No doubt. But Hermione was right out dreadful. Draco and Ginny were… well… good. It seems they needed only to look at each other in order to know what the other one would do. Both of them had fairly decent ball control as well. Hermione guesses the years of quidditch worked to their advantage here.

"On your right, Hermione!" Harry said and passed the ball to Hermione who _actually caught_ it.

Harry was blocking Ginny as Hermione set of towards the other teams goal. Just as she fired off a toe-poke she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist, holding her back from following through the shot. The football flew past the goalpost and landed on a couple's blanket who were sitting next to their "field".

"Sorry about that!" Hermione flushed as her hands flew to her mouth.

The couple eyed the players annoyed but passed the ball back to them nonetheless.

"Oi! Malfoy that's a fowl! You can't hold down your opponent. This isn't quidditch!" Harry shouted.

"Yeah, Sorry. Still having trouble remembering all of these silly rules." Draco smirked, still holding a tight grip around Hermione's waist.

Hermione turned around so that she was facing him,

"You know there's no point of you cheating. You're up two goals anyway."

"Guess I just couldn't help myself." He smirked and let he go.

That was the springboard for the dirty tricks. Over the next ten minutes Hermione was entitled a penalty kick due to Draco's fowl and she scored. Harry had a shot at an open goal but missed due to Ginny casting a confundus charm on him. That earned Harry a penalty kick on which he scored. Draco _did_ crosscheck Harry as a result of that tying goal.

They were now tied with only seconds left to play and Ginny was blocking Harry as Draco was well on his way across the field to score. Hermione ran up behind him, desperate to stop him from scoring.

"Hermione, do something! Stop him!" Harry shouted from behind her.

Hermione might not look it, but she was fast. She caught up with Draco trying to steal the ball from him, but failed as he dribbled passed her. Desperate she did the next thing that crossed her mind; she jumped up on his back.

"Granger! What the hell!" Draco shouted, surprised, as he lost his balance for a moment.

"Go Hermione!" Harry cheered on from behind them.

"Two can play it dirty, Malfoy." she mused in his ear as she placed her hands over his eyes.

"Hmm, is that right?" he smirked.

He hoisted her legs, which were wrapped around his waist, further up causing her weight to shift and she almost lost her grip. Hermione let out a small yelp.

"Don't worry, love. I've got you." he tightened his grip on her legs.

"Alright, put me down. I'm going to fall." she laughed as Draco swayed his hips a little.

"Better hold on tighter then, 'cause I'm still scoring." he smirked and dribbled the ball closer to the goal.

Both Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes at the bizarre scene playing out before them.

"Should I just get the ball and score instead?" Ginny asked Harry.

"No, let them be. Whatever they're doing it's working." Harry smiled.

"No, it's not working, Harry." Ginny sighed.

"I'm not talking about the game, Gin." Harry nudged her meaningfully.

"Yeah, neither was I." Ginny nudged him back. "They can't keep doing this. I know they say there's nothing going on, but there clearly is."

"You know, I though so too, but now I'm not so sure. If there was something wouldn't it already have happened by now?" Harry turned to face Ginny.

Ginny drew a deep breath and turned to face Harry as well,

"It doesn't matter whether it _should have_ happened, it _hasn't_. And the longer they wait the harder it will be when one of them hurts the other. Because that's how this ends, trust me. It won't be intentionally, I'm sure. But inevitably they will."

"I'm not sure they even could hurt each other. They're such a big part of each other's lives they're basically the same person by now. There's nothing the world could throw at them they couldn't handle." Harry smiled as he watched Draco score, Hermione still holding on to him with a tight grip.

Draco ran a victory lap and Hermione shrieked with laughter.

"You're so optimistic, Harry. That's why I love you. You always see the best in people." Ginny reached up to her tippy-toes and kissed her boyfriend.

"And skins win!" Draco shouted as he ran up to the two of them where he high-fived Ginny.

Hermione climbed off him and straightened her top,

"Well, it was a good game nonetheless, right Harry?"

"Yeah, you deserved to win." Harry smiled.

"Right, good game, Malfoy. We should do this again soon, but we've got to head home now." Ginny said as she hugged both Hermione and Draco goodbye.

They all hugged goodbye before Harry and Ginny apparated away from the park.

"We should head home as well. I don't like the look of those clouds." Hermione shot the towering, ominous, dark clouds a worried look. "Do you really think there's going to be a thunderstorm?"

"Yeah, and by the looks of it I was right. Will you be alright? I know how you hate it." Draco put his arm around her shoulder as they walked out of the park.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." she said in a not-at-all-fine-voice.

Smiling softly Draco said, "I know. You always are."

He stopped and turned to face her. "But on off the chance you're not you know you're always welcome to my bed."

"Thank you." She gave him a soft smile.

He returned the smile, equally soft, and tucked some stray hair behind her ear. And this time is _was_ a sign of endearment.

* * *

 **Alright, so I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. But I have a faint idea.**

 **So, tell me what you think so far! I love hearing your thoughts. Do you love it – why? Do you hate it – why? : )**

 **Cheers!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, I decided to change the rating from T to M. I'm still not exactly 100 % clear on the rating, but better safe than sorry, right? It's still mostly for future references.**

* * *

"Astoria bloody Greengrass?"

"Yes, love. She's a lovely young lady and her parents' are very respectable."

"You mean she's single and having her parents' supporting the business would be an asset. If they couldn't refuse it all the better, eh?" Draco leered at his parents' as they were seated in the sitting room at Malfoy Manor later that same week.

"No, Draco. That's not what we're saying. She's a bright young woman and we thought you'd like to get her better." Lucius spoke in a calm voice, although it had a distinct undertone of frustration.

"You're trying to set me up with Astoria bloody Greengrass?" Draco asked again in disbelief.

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Hermione, who sat next to him in the sofa, asked.

"She's a right loony. She fucking eats mud!" Draco gestured wildly with his hands at his parents.

"Really? Where did you hear that?" Hermione couldn't help but chuckle.

"I saw it with my own eyes. Last time I saw her. And it was at a _garden party_ at the Parkinssons'!" Draco almost shouted.

Narcissa sighed loudly,

"That was over 15 years ago, Draco. You were six and she was five years old. You haven't seen her since you were just small children."

"I don't care! She'll always be the mud-eater in my book." Draco leaned back in the sofa and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Stop being so ridiculous and give Astoria a chance. I'm sure she's lovely now that she's in her twenties." Hermione reassured him and patted his arm.

"I'm sure you'll be saying the same about the dreadful date mother has picked for you. Go on, mother. Let's hear what you found for Granger." Draco muttered.

"For the last time, I'm not trying to _set you up_. I'm simply taking the opportunity inviting good people into our home." Narcissa said carelessly, but not fooling anyone.

It was quite obvious to all of them Narcissa had way too much time on her hands and therefore took the mission upon herself to be a matchmaker. Previously she'd fancied the idea of Draco and Hermione becoming an item and tried her best to make that happen. But it had quickly become painfully obvious neither Draco nor Hermione were on-board for this idea Narcissa had changed tactics. Sometimes Draco silently wondered if his mother was purposely setting them up on dreadful _non_ -dates in hopes that they, Draco and Hermione, would realise what a smart match they were and fall madly in love with each other. But that hadn't happened yet and Draco didn't see it happening anytime soon either.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Draco waved his hand idly. "So who else did you invite?"

"Not Marcus Flint. Not Marcus Flint." Hermione muttered under her breath, which made Draco chuckle quietly.

"Oh, would the two of you just grow up already?" Narcissa sneered at the pair sitting on the sofa across from her. "I invited an old housemate of yours Hermione; Oliver Wood."

Hermione couldn't help but let out a grunt.

"Oh, stop being so ridiculous and give Wood a chance!" Draco mocked.

"Don't get me wrong, Oliver is very nice. But all he _ever_ talks about is Quidditch!" She gave Narcissa an apologetic look.

"Oh help me Merlin. The two of you are the worst! So ungrateful!" Narcissa snorted before she walked out of the sitting room to no doubt check on the dumplings baking in the kitchen.

"Thought you just said you _weren't_ trying to set us up on dates!" Draco called after his mother.

"Just humour your mother, Draco. If nothing else, just do me this favour. Please." Lucius said as he took a sip of his fire whiskey.

"If I do I only have four very reasonable demands. Number one…" Draco said counting on his left hand. "… You'll give me 60 % of your shares in the company. Number two, you'll give me a 400 % increase on-"

"How about…" Lucius cut his son off. "You'll do this and I _won't_ disown you and make Hermione heir to the Malfoy estate instead of you?"

"Right. Fair enough." Draco nodded.

"What? No! I liked the part where you make me heir." Hermione chimed in.

"Don't worry, dear. I still might." Lucius said, giving Hermione a meaningful look and rolled his eyes at his son.

Two hours later the three Malfoys', Hermione, Astoria and Oliver were sitting in the parlour _not_ being on the weirdest set up in Wizarding history.

"So, Oliver. What do you do now-a-days?" Hermione asked her old housemate.

"I'm the keeper for the Puddlemere United's." Oliver said.

"Right, you joined their team after you graduated, didn't you?" Hermione remembered, how, she had no idea.

"Yeah, well I joined their reserve team right after Hogwarts. But in the group finals at the 1995's British and Irish League we met the Pride of Portree, right? Our keeper took a terrible Bludger to the head and…" Oliver started blabbering away about some unlikely turn of events that somehow was leading up to something very spectacular.

Hermione tuned out, still smiling politely and gave a nod every once in a while.

 _By Merlin._ Oliver was just like she remembered him from school; tall and strapping with a commanding presence. His hair had a sort of auburn shade and his squared face with the strong jaws was very symmetrical.

He really was a gorgeous man.

At least he had been if it wasn't for the maniacal look he got in his eyes when he was enthusing about Quidditch. That hadn't changed since school either, unfortunately.

Hermione's gaze drifted towards Draco who sat across the table from her. He seemed to be engaged in a conversation with Astoria about something very important. Or at least it seemed Astoria was telling him something very imperative because she gestured wildly with her hands as if to emphasize something. Hermione saw how Draco watched her closely with a slight frown on his forehead.

 _By Merlin. Doesn't the woman ever stop talking?_ Draco silently wondered as Astoria started another rant about something. _I bet she knows all the words in the dictionary._

She'd been talking for the last 20 minutes, uninterrupted. About what, Draco had no clue. He'd stopped listening right around the part where Astoria shared her views on current political events in a country Draco had never heard of. Astoria was clever and educated, that's for sure. And she had no problem speaking her mind and arguing her case. She was much like Hermione in that way. Only when Hermione spoke Draco actually found it noteworthy.

Draco studied his _non_ -date's long dark locks that flowed down over her shoulders. Astoria had beautiful hair, sure.

 _It flows like the waterfall in spring, doesn't it? Vivid and untamed._

His eyes wondered further to her dark eyes. Astoria had attentive eyes, just like Hermione. But Astoria's missed something. A spark, maybe? Life? Purpose? Meaning?

Suddenly he noticed something stuck in her teeth.

 _Is that mud?_ He squinted to investigate further.

 _If it's bloody mud I'm fucking leaving._ One closer look told him it wasn't in fact mud but a small leaf from a herb.

 _But what herb could it be? Looks a bit like parsley, doesn't it? Why is she having parsley stuck in her teeth?_ Draco frowned and concentrated hard on the little green leaf.

 _Did we even eat parsley tonight? No, I guess we didn't. Gross! How long has that been there?_

When he was done assessing the herb Draco let his eyes wonder yet again. It seemed like they, almost by their own accord, almost immediately landed on Hermione. She was looking at him as well, a bored expression on her face. For some reason that lifted his mood.

Draco caught her gaze for a moment and rolled his eyes at her, illustrating he'd much rather be doing something else. Hermione gave him a quick smile before she turned her attention back to her _non_ -date.

"Draco?"

Somewhere beside him he heard someone saying his name.

"Sorry?" he said, turning back to Astoria.

"I asked your opinion on the goblin rebellion in 1752 and how Minister of Magic Albert Boot resigned due to it." Astoria repeated patiently.

"Yeah. Rubbish, innit?" Draco answered absentmindedly, slowly shifting his focus from Hermione to Astoria.

Apparently that was the wrong answer because as he turned back to face Astoria she looked outraged,

"How can you defend a man who supported societal structures that let an entire race be marginalised for centuries? Him resigning was the _least_ he could do after handling the situation so poorly!"

 _Oh bloody hell_ , he _knew_ this, he really did. And he didn't really sympathise with the old tosser. He just forgot to listen!

Luckily he didn't have to own his statement any further because Lucius entered the room bringing a very expensive-looking bottle of rum.

"Hate to interrupt, but would anyone like to try this 1824 Angostura?"

Hermione and Draco immediately made eye contact and both had to fight hard not to laugh out loud.

An hour later both Oliver and Astoria left after having thanked Lucius and Narcissa for having them over. A short while after that Draco and Hermione had taken their leave as well and flooed back to their flat.

"So, how was the non-date with Astoria?" Hermione asked as she opened the fridge in search for something to nibble.

"To sum up I cocked up." Draco shrugged. "Tea?"

"Why? What did you do?" When she didn't find anything she was in the mood for she closed the fridge. "Yeah, tea sounds great."

Draco put the kettle on the stove and turned to lean against the counter,

"I might have, accidently, implied I didn't see it fit to punish a man who sustained societal structures that let an entire race be marginalised for centuries."

"Well, so it went slightly better than the worst it could possibly have gotten, then?" she chuckled as she jumped up to sit on the counter next to Draco.

Draco chuckled too, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I could have told her I don't believe in gender equality as well, that would probably have made it worse."

"So, are you seeing her again?" Hermione asked as she absentmindedly twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers.

"Don't know. I guess she's not that keen on seeing me again since I came off like a sodding wanker." He shrugged indifferently. "Probably just as well. How was your non-date with Captain Quidditch?"

"Better than the one with Doctor Dragon Pox. Oliver is a good man. His heart is in the right place." She opened the cupboard next to her and took out two teacups.

"He also spends indecent amount of Galleons on Quidditch-supplies, is constantly on a diet, spends most of his waking time on a Quidditch-field or in a locker-room shower with a bunch of men and furthermore, I hear he bleaches his arsehole. But sure, he'd probably be fun to date. If you're into that." Draco said nonchalantly as he reached for the tea beside Hermione.

Hermione couldn't help but burst into laughter,

"Where in the world did you hear that?"

"Dunno. Probably from Balise. Or it might have been Theo." He took the kettle off the stove and turned to Hermione. "So, are you seeing him again?"

She didn't answer right away but bit her bottom lip and suddenly seemed very interested in the teacups she still held in her hand,

"Um, yeah, actually. He asked me to get coffee with him next week."

Trying his best to conceal his surprised, he took a step closer to her so that he was now in her personal space,

"You're going on a date with him, then?"

Hermione drew a deep breath, as if to calm herself,

"No, it's _not_ a date. It's just coffee."

Draco placed his hands on either side of her where she sat on the counter and let a small smirk form across his lips,

"But you don't drink coffee, Granger. You drink tea."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him,

"It's just a saying. I don't _have to_ drink coffee just because we're going out for coffee."

"Sure. If you say so." He gave her another smirk and took the teacups from her. "Still sounds like a date to me."

"Hypothetically if it was, would it be a problem?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

He gave her a puzzled look before he answered,

"No, 'course not."

"Good. Because I don't want it to be."

He poured the tea and went back to her with her cup, this time, too, invading her personal space, not that she seemed to mind one bit.

"The only thing making your date a problem is if Captain Quidditch would somehow misbehave." He handed her the cup but she didn't take it and just looked at him. "You know you mean the world to me, Granger. Your happiness is important to me. If this bloke makes you happy… then good. If he doesn't… then I won't hesitate a second before a pour bubotuber pus in his shampoo bottle."

The sincerity in his tone made it impossible for Hermione to keep a straight face and she burst out in laughter. A sweet and heart-warming laughter.

"Merlin, Malfoy! You're a right loony! Did anyone ever tell you that?"

"I'm serious. I would pour bubotuber pus into anyone's shampoo bottle if they hurt you."

"Oh, no doubt I believe you. You definitely would. That's why you're a loony." Hermione took the teacup from him that he was still holding, "Thank you for the tea."

She hopped off the counter,

"Well, I'm off to Bedfordshire. You're turning in soon as well?"

"Not yet, far too excited about the bubotuber pus so I'm going to need another hour or so before I can fall asleep." he smirked.

"You're the worst. But I still love you." She kissed him on the cheek. "Good night."

He kissed her cheek as well, "I love you too, Granger. That's why I'd do it. Sweet dreams."

She shook her head disapprovingly but all the same with a smile across her lips before she left the kitchen for her bedroom.

Alone with his thoughts Draco went into the living room and sat down on the sofa, sipping his tea.

This was what he loved about their relationship. Everything was easy and fun with Hermione. They always fell into easy conversation and no matter what the topic he loved hearing what she had to say about it. Because truth was, she always did have something to say about it and it was most often something bright.

Telling her he loved her didn't make him feel vulnerable, like it usually did. That's why he never said it to anyone else but her. But telling _her_ made him feel stronger, like it manifested their relationship a bit more every time he did. And he liked that. It felt like he needed to say it every once in a while, almost compulsory. But it certainly didn't mean he was _in love_ with her. No, she was his friend. His best friend. He could never give that up.

Alone with his tea and his thoughts he could admit to himself that the idea of Granger on a date with Captain Quidditch wasn't thrilling. Granger on a date with anyone wasn't thrilling for that matter. But that was because he knew no one would ever be good enough for her. She was this wonderful, smart, selfless and caring person and everything she touched instantly became better.

Was he selfish for wanting to have her all to himself?

Probably.

But he could live with that because he knew he'd never actually stop her from living a life she wanted to.

But he could still wish and silently hope he'd always be the most important man in her life.

With his tea finished he went back to the kitchen to put the cup away. When he walked passed Hermione's bedroom he heard a heard a distressed whimper. He sighed, recognising the sound too well. She was having a nightmare. Carefully, he opened the door and walked in, taking a seat next to her on the bed.

Small sobs came in quick flares and he started stroking her hair gently.

"Shush, it's okay. You're okay." he whispered quietly.

She opened her eyes, disorientated looking around for a moment before she saw him. Instantly her breathing calmed.

"Which one was it this time?" he asked quietly, still stroking her hair.

"The one at the Manor. It doesn't come as often nowadays, but when it does it's the worst." she groaned.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No. It's just a dream. A way for the brain to sort through events." She looked up at him.

Draco couldn't help but smile. She was always so instrumental about these kinds of things.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" he asked.

"Yes. You can be the big spoon." she said and turned around with her back facing him.

"Gladly." He crawled down under the blanket next to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He kissed the crook of her neck and whispered, "Now try to get some sleep."

She sighed contently and shortly her breathing became deep as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Draco nuzzled his nose into her brown bushy hair and inhaled her sweet vanilla scent that spread warmth through his body. Shortly after he also entered into a world of dreams. A world filled with brown bushy hair and lots of warmth.

* * *

 **So, chapter 3 came to an end. What do you think? How will the non-date-coffee-date with Captain Quidditch go? And why is Draco referring to him as Captain Quidditch?**

 **What do you think, are they in love? Or is it possible to have this kind of friendship with no romantic feelings? Let me know your thoughts!**

 **Cheers!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So first of all, let me say THANK YOU for all your reviews!**

 **It warms my heart so much that you take the time to reflect on the story and tell me what you think. You are the best : )**

* * *

"Malfoy, have you seen my nude pumps?"

Hermione was running around the flat half dressed desperately trying to assemble an outfit in time for her non-date-coffee-date with Oliver.

"Yeah, they're in my bedroom." Draco answered without looking up from the book he was reading on the sofa.

Hermione hurried past him through the living room and into his bedroom,

"What the bloody hell are my shoes doing in _your_ bedroom?"

"I was using them to test out a new spell for blisters." He looked up from his book as Hermione walked out from his room into the living room again holding the nude pumps in her hand. She wore a white off-shoulder top and no trousers.

Draco let his gaze wonder along the curves of her body. The top ended just below her bum and the sides were cut just high enough for Draco to notice she was wearing black seamless knickers. That told him she was more focused on looking good _with_ clothes than without tonight.

"So, where is Captain Quidditch taking you?"

"Um, I'm not really sure. But it's a Muggle place. Near Marylebone." Hermione said as she disappeared into her bedroom to find a pair of trousers.

"Oh, quite the posh place for coffee, innit?" Draco put the book away and walked after Hermione.

He stopped in the doorway into her room and leaned against the frame, watching her wiggling into a pair of dark blue jeans.

"Yeah, seems like he's willing to spend indecent amount of Galleons on other things than Quidditch." Hermione grinned as she buttoned her jeans and stepped into the nude pumps. "How do I look?"

She did a twirl for him.

"You look beautiful, as always." He stepped closer to her and brushed her hair back behind her shoulders so her neckline was fully visible. "And now you look perfect."

Hermione's cheeks flushed, barely noticeable, and she smiled at him before she turned to her full-length mirror to inspect. Draco leaned against the doorframe again, watching her twist and turn in front of the mirror to get a view of herself from all the angles.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you're nervous about tonight." he smirked.

She bit her bottom lip: "Truth be told I sort of am."

"Since when do you get nervous about going on dates?" he asked.

"Since I haven't been on one in waaaay too long." She deemed the outfit passable and stopped turning in front of the mirror.

"Are you planning on shagging him tonight?"

His blunt question took Hermione by surprise and she just stared at him for a moment. He didn't usually ask that. He hadn't in the past when she went on dates at least. So why now?

"Um… No. That wouldn't be my goal for tonight. No." she said when she finally found the words. "Why do you ask?"

"Dunno. Just curious." he shrugged.

"Right." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And now I can't help but wonder what makes you curious."

"No reason, I'm just making conversation." He ran his hand through his hair.

"No, that's not _making conversation._ Making conversation is talking about the weather or asking me what I think will happen if Pinocchio says 'my nose will grow now'." She stepped closer to him, just invading his personal space.

He didn't take a step back, as she expected him to. He stayed put and even though she wore her high heels he was still a good bit taller than her, which forced her to tilt her head upwards.

"Well?" she pressed on.

He leaned forwards a bit, now so close she could feel his cool breath on her face.

"I don't know what to tell you, Granger. I was curious so I asked." he said in a low voice.

 _And I'm curious what makes you curious,_ she thought but before she had time to ask again the doorbell rang and before she had time to register what had happened Draco had disappeared to answer it.

Why, all of a sudden, had Malfoy taken an interest in her sex-life? He certainly never had before. What was different about this time? Was it something about Oliver? She'd dated wizards before, so it couldn't be that. She'd certainly slept with men before, so it couldn't be that.

Realisation suddenly dawned on her.

She'd never referred to any of them as _a good man_ before.

Was he jealous?

No, he couldn't be. Because that would mean he harboured some form of romantic feelings for her, wouldn't in? And that she knew for sure he didn't. That would make things complicated.

Awfully complicated.

She snapped back to reality when she heard Draco and Oliver talking in the hallway.

She shook her head trying to discard her somewhat disturbing thoughts and went out to greet her non-date-date.

"So, what are you having?" Oliver asked when he and Hermione were standing in line at the posh coffee shop.

"Um, I'll have the green passion tea." Hermione said twirled her hair between her fingers.

Oliver ordered tea for Hermione and coffee for himself.

"So tea? You don't drink coffee?" Oliver arched an eyebrow at her.

"Um, no. I don't drink coffee." she confessed.

"Why would you agree to have coffee with me, then?" he asked with a smile.

Hermione sighed impatiently; " _Going out for coffee_ is just an expression. It doesn't mean I have to drink coffee. It's like _going out for a pint_ means you're allowed to drink wine as well."

Oliver grinned as he took their orders and together they sat down at a table; "Right. Naturally. I sort if get the feeling my question annoyed you. I'm sorry if I said something wrong."

"No, sorry. You didn't say anything wrong. It's just, I just had this _exact_ same conversation with Malfoy the other day." Hermione said.

"Right." Oliver pressed his lips together, a sort of frown on his face. But he didn't say anything.

Hermione watched him intently, trying to figure out what was on his mind, because it was evident something were.

Moments went by without either of them speaking, they just sipped on their drinks in silence.

After about three more moments Oliver finally said;

"Right, so I have to ask. What's the deal with you and Malfoy?"

"We haven't spelt together." Hermione answered very quickly.

Too quickly.

Oliver tilted his head and smiled a little, "Thank you for clearing that out. But that wasn't what I asked."

"Right, um. Well there isn't any _deal_ going on neither. We're just two best friends who live together."

"Yeah, so that _is_ a deal." Oliver said.

"No, not really. Just ordinary flatmates." Hermione said as she concentrated hard on stirring the spoon in her teacup.

"So when he told you he would pick up your favourite ice-cream and the way he _insisted_ you'd bring an umbrella because it _miiiiight_ start to rain before we left, that was just ordinary flatmate stuff?" Oliver asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah. He's always like that. Why? Do you think it's weird?" She looked up from the stirring.

"Yeah, a little weird. Not that by itself perhaps, but everything with you two. I watched you at that super weird setup dinner at the Manor and the two of you seem so in sync. When he moves you move, like you're mirroring each other. And sometimes it's like you don't even have to say anything, you just know what the other one is thinking. Like the looks you gave each other when Lucius brought out the rum. It was a bit uncanny to be honest." Oliver said.

"Yeah, I've heard that before." Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes.

This wasn't news to her. Her _special bond_ with Draco was something many of her dates brought up and it usually meant it was the last date they went on. What was special about this time was that it happened a lot earlier than expected.

"I get it if you can't understand-" Hermione begun, but Oliver cut her off.

"No, listen. I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I just really wanted to know what that was. Because it was just so nice to see you again. And I think I'd like to see more of you." he smiled and put his hand on hers that was sitting on top of the table.

She returned his smile, even if a little uncertain.

"And now that I know you and Malfoy are just friends, that makes it easier for me to ask you out on a second date."

 _Oh, so this is a date. This isn't just two old schoolmates catching up._

Hermione sighed, she should have known. Honestly, she did know. She just didn't want it to be a date. But she did want to see Oliver again. But not on a date. Dates makes things complicated.

But who says this has to turn into something, right? She can keep it light and breezy. Yeah, Hermione Granger is not anything if not light and breezy.

She smiled back at Oliver; "Yeah, I'd very much like that. But if you don't mind, I'd rather not spend this date talking about Malfoy."

"Right, yeah. Me neither. I'm just glad we cleared that out."

The rest of the date went on smoothly. Oliver managed to keep the Quidditch-talk to a minimum, which made him very charming. Instead they talked about books, theatre, hobbies and so on and when the date was over he followed her to the door and kissed her good night. On the cheek of course as Oliver was a proper gentleman.

With a little smile on her face she turned the keys in the door to her flat and stepped inside, greeting her best friend in their usual manner;

"Honey, I'm home."

But inside the first thing that met her was _not_ Draco greeting her back, but Astoria Greengrass. A half-naked Astoria Greengrass to be precise. It looked like she'd just gotten out of the shower because her hair was dripping wet and she had a towel wrapped around her.

"Um, hi." Astoria greeted uncertain and a deep blush spread across her cheeks.

Before Hermione had time to say anything in reply Draco, also with dripping wet hair and a towel wrapped around his waist, entered the now very crowded hallway from the bathroom.

"Granger you're home. How was the date?" Draco asked and gave Hermione a small smile.

"Um, yours seems to have been more eventful than mine." Hermione managed to get out, even though her slightly shocked state made it difficult for her to gather coherent thoughts.

"You didn't tell me you also had a date tonight." Her gaze flickered over to Astoria who was still standing, wearing the towel, between them.

"Yeah, funny how that happened. Astoria and I just ran into each other and one thing led to another." he ran his hand through his hair.

"Where did you run into each other? In our shower?" Hermione snorted.

"And the sofa." Draco said quietly before clearing his throat. "Ehrm, spur of the moment sort of thing."

"Malfoy, can I have a word with you. Alone if possible." Hermione asked nodding towards the kitchen.

"Right. Astoria, love, will you excuse me for a moment?" Draco turned to the witch who looked _very_ uncomfortable.

 _Astoria, love? Really?_ Hermione fumed. _He'd just met her and no doubt shagged her with no intention of seeing her ever again, but she was already Astoria, love? And he I am, his supposedly best friend and I'm still Granger. What the hell?_

"I… um… Sorry. Um… I'll just get dressed then." Astoria said before she disappeared into Draco's bedroom.

Hermione nodded, yet again, to Draco to follow her into the kitchen.

"Malfoy, what the hell?" Hermione asked when she deemed Astoria out of earshot.

"What do you mean? Are you mad at me? Am I not allowed to have company over?" Draco wondered, an undertone of aggression to his words.

Hermione, not the least phased by his attitude, just rolled her eyes at him,

"Did you shag her?"

"What? Was I not allowed to?" he snapped.

"Answer the question, Malfoy. Did you shag her?" she snapped back.

He leered at her for a moment before he muttered; "Yes."

"Where?" she hissed.

"What do you mean where?" he countered.

"It's a simple question, you daft idiot. Where in our flat did you shag her?"

"In the shower. And on the sofa." he muttered through clenched teeth.

"Bloody hell! You can't keep doing this!" she snapped.

"Why? Am I not allowed to embrace my sexuality in my own home? Is this because you didn't get laid tonight?" He was shouting now.

His words hit her like a fist to the stomach and she had to fight holding back the tears that was burning behind her eyes, threatening to roll down her cheek.

"That's not the point. And you know it!" Hermione shouted back. "The point is you're shagging women in areas we share. If it isn't the sofa it's the fucking kitchen table. And if it isn't that it's up against a bloody wall in the living room. Do you know how much that bothers me? Why can't you do me a favour and just do it in your bed like a normal person?"

To this Draco didn't respond. Instead, he did something very un-Malfoy-like. He looked down at his feet and was quiet for a very long moment.

Hermione, not feeling patient enough to handle this undoubtedly hard and earnest moment the constructive way shouted; "What the hell is the matter with you? Why aren't you saying something?"

Draco inhaled sharply and said; "But I don't want to do it in my bed."

"Why not? That's where it's supposed to be done." Hermione snapped.

"Never mind. I don't want to talk about it." he tried to make his way past her, but she blocked his exit by stepping into the doorway.

"I don't care if you _want_ to talk about. You're _going to_ tell me because if you're going to shag women on the same table I eat my breakfast I deserve to know why." she hissed.

"Having sex in my bed is too private." he mumbled.

"What do you mean _too bloody private_? That's a bullshit excuse! Why in the world is doing it in your bed _too private?_ " At this point she was so worked up a little spit flew from her mouth as she shouted at him.

"Because _you_ sleep in my bed, alright?" Draco shouted back. "I don't want anyone else there. Happy?"

"Oh." her expression softened immediately.

This was not what she had expected. At all.

This was certainly the most ridiculous and bizarre argument they'd ever had. There she was, after just coming home from a date. And there he was, only wearing a bloody towel wrapped around his waist. And they were arguing over where sexual activities were allowed and all because he valued sleeping in the same bed as her more intimate than having sex with someone.

She sighed a deep and tired sigh,

"Malfoy. Our relationship is so fucked up. Isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." he agreed. "But there you go. Now you know. If you'll excuse me I'm going to join Astoria. _Not_ shagging her on our joint furniture."

And with that he pushed passed her and left her alone in the kitchen.

* * *

 **Sorry to be leaving you with this cliff-hanger. But fear not, they are best friends after all. They will work it out, don't you think?**


	5. Chapter 5

That night something happened that hadn't happened in a long time. Draco slept alone. After having stormed out of the kitchen he went back to his bedroom and had a talk with Astoria. What exactly was said during that conversation neither of them ever told anyone, but two hours later Draco walked her to the fireplace where they hugged each other before she flooed home.

The next morning when he woke up Hermione was nowhere to be found. She didn't return home until late that evening and even then she just locked herself in her room, refusing to talk to him.

This silent treatment went on for days and Draco realised he'd cocked up. Royally this time.

This wasn't their first fight, but it was certainly the longest. Not being on speaking terms with his best friend really started to tare at him. He realised he missed asking her about her day, telling her about his, getting her input on things, laughing with her about nothing in particular and feel the warmth of her embrace when she hugged him.

But the worst part was when Captain Quidditch came over. Draco couldn't stand seeing the way he played with her hair when they were sitting on the sofa watching the telly. That used to be his job, for Merlin's sake! He didn't particularly fancy the way she seemed to melt into him when he wrapped her arms around her so affectionately, neither. Or the way he cupped her face ever so gently when they kissed. But when he saw thin pinkish scratch marks on his neck and a distinct teeth mark on her shoulder… That was the last straw. This couldn't keep going on.

So the next morning something else happened that hadn't happened in a long time. Draco called Blaise and asked Blaise to meet him for a friendly Quidditch practise, just the two of them, that same morning.

"So, is there a particular reason you asked me to meet you at this ungodly hour a Sunday morning, or did you just miss Quidditch that much?" Blaise grinned as they released the Bludgers and readied themselves with their bats.

"No, is there something wrong with wanting to spend some quality time with my mate?" Draco asked, as carelessly as he could, as he sent a Bludger flying across the field.

"Right." Blaise said as he too whacked a Bludger coming at him. "So, how's Hermione?"

Draco answered by sending a Bludger flying in Blaise's direction so Blaise had to do a quick dive with his broom in order to escape it.

 _I should have fucking mastered in divination. So predictable!_ Blaise thought.

"I'm guessing she's the reason for this early meeting then." he smirked. "What did you do this time?

"I didn't do anything! How come you always assume it's my fault?" Draco sneered.

Blaise just gave his mate a lazy look and Draco continued,

"Fine. A week ago she kept nagging me about me occasionally having slept with women other places than my bed. We got into a huge fight about it and really haven't spoken since."

Blaise rolled his eyes at his mate. Draco was a sharp bloke. He really was. But when it came to being in contact with his own emotions he was completely oblivious.

"I'm sure that there's more to it. Talk me through it, mate." Blaise sent another Bludger across the field.

"Well, at the beginning of the night she was getting ready for her date with Captain Quidditch-"

"She's dating Wood?" Blaise cut in.

"Yeah. And now he's over all the time. Unfortunately." Draco said swinging his bat hitting the Bludger perfectly. "Anyway, all was fine when she left. Her hair was on point, she looked bloody gorgeous I even told her so. So like I said, all was fine. When she was away I ran into Astoria, completely random. When we'd sorted out the little misunderstanding from last time about me being the worlds biggest idiot we ended up getting to know each other better at my flat."

"And by getting to know each other you mean you had sex." Blaise clarified.

"Yeah. Anyway. Granger comes home just as Astoria and I are getting out of the shower, right. Then suddenly Granger is yelling at me for having sex on the table where she east her breakfast. Can you believe it?" Draco was so worked up by this great injustice Blaise actually had to restrain himself from laughing straight in Draco's face.

"Yeah, I actually can, mate." He shook his head at Draco.

At this Draco gave his friend a loathing look as if telling him not siding with him in this was treachery.

The two men continued beating Bludgers across the field for about another hour, talking about the events of that night and the following week. Blaise rolled his eyes harder and harder at Draco as time went on. To Blaise it was _painfully_ _obvious_ what the problem was. Only problem with addressing said problem was that Draco wasn't susceptible to it, not yet a least.

"Alright, so I know both you and Hermione probably are the two most stubborn people in the entire universe-"

"I'm not stubborn!" Draco interrupted.

"Yeah, mate. You're stubborn." Blaise said, firmly.

"No, I'm proud!" Draco countered.

"It's the same thing, Draco." Blaise said, flatly.

"No, it's not. There's a significant difference!" Draco snapped.

Blaise rolled his eyes, "Fine. You're proud."

He took a breath to calm himself and continued,

"But you and Hermione have always had a sort of special bond. And why the two of you never got together in the first place, I'll never understand." Blaise said as they both landed on the ground getting off their brooms.

"Are you going anywhere with this?" Draco asked, clearing away some dirt under his nails.

Blaise ignored his friend's attitude and continued: "But might there be an _ever so slight_ possibility that you and Hermione actually fancy each other, but you're both just too stubborn - sorry, _proud_ to admit it?"

"No. That's completely out of the question." The firm tone in which the statement was declared made Blaise even more sure there _was_.

"Can you just accept this hypothesis for argument's sake? Because that would explain a lot. Like why Hermione reacted strongly when at the beginning of the night you tell her she looks bloody perfect and at the end of the night you're shagging another woman. And you're doing it in her face, nonetheless. That would piss me off as well." Blaise swung his broom over his shoulder as they started walking across the field.

"Hmm." Draco ran his hand over his chin. "Say I do accept this hypothesis. If Granger fancies me, how come she's going on a date with Captain Quidditch then?"

"Because she wasn't born yesterday. She knows you're an emotionally unavailable cunt." Blaise said. "And you. You being in love with Hermione would explain why you freak out over her going on a date with a bloke one has to consider decent."

"He's not decent." Draco snorted. "He wears sunglasses indoors, at night-time might I add, uses the words _literally_ literally all the time, starts every sentence with 'that's what _you_ think' and on top of that he never changes the toilet paper roll in the bathroom."

"So, sounds a lot like you're jealous, mate." Blaise smirked.

Draco let out a condescending snort,

"The only thing I might be a _tiny_ bit jealous about is that fact that he seems to be able to drink how much beer he'd like and somehow still have a six pack. Which he does show off all and any chance he gets. Sometimes I wonder if the man even owns a shirt."

Blaise rolled his eyes,

"You were jealous even before they went out on their first date and your response was parading a naked woman in front of Hermione instead of telling her how you feel. Real mature, mate."

"Well, that's just not true." Draco muttered, kicking the dirt at his feet loosely.

"But still. Regardless of how you feel you're telling her one thing and then doing another. No wonder she's pissed at you. Just stop doing that."

"But how was I supposed to know my actions would have consequences?" Draco shouted, and it almost sounded like he was blaming Blaise for this.

"You're such a cunt. You're bloody lucky to have Hermione in you life, even if you don't deserve it the way you're acting. Don't cock it up." They'd reached the apparition point.

"Alright, so how do I fix this?" Draco sighed.

"Not by talking to _me_ about it." Blaise shrugged.

"So I've talked to you and I've talked to Astoria but both of you are completely useless." Draco sneered; annoyed by this refusal for help he was receiving.

Blaise turned to face Draco; "Wait, hang on. You talked to _me_. And to _Astoria_. Have you even talked to _Hermione_ about this?"

"No." Draco muttered.

"You daft prick! Go and talk to HER!" Blaise shouted.

"Mmm-kay. No hard feelings, but I hate you. Not joking. Bye." Draco said and apparated from the field, but not before he saw Blaise showing him a very rude hand gesture.

When Draco got home Hermione was nowhere to be found. Which was probably just as well because that gave him time to think. So he did what he always did when he had to think; he drew himself a bath.

In the bath he realised _maybe_ , just _maybe,_ he could understand why Hermione was a little bit upset with him.

After the bath he did the next best thing to help him think; he re-arranged all the books in his bookcase. That was when he realised that it didn't matter if he found it reasonable or not, the fact was that she was upset with him and those feelings were real.

After that he cleaned out their refrigerator. As he was throwing away chees that had expired a year ago he realised that the feeling he'd previously identified as being angry with Hermione was actually him being angry with himself for hurting her.

And finally, as he cleaned all the mirrors in the flat he realised what the problem was. Things were changing. And change was scary. They both found it scary. And that's when he came up with a plan (all on his own); he was going to _talk to her_.

That day Hermione didn't get home until late in the evening. When she did she found Draco sitting on the sofa, waiting for her. It was evident that Hermione, however, had no plan on engaging in whatever conversation he had planned and she just ran to hide in her bedroom.

Draco patiently walked over and knocked on her door, not the one to be bothered by her stubbornness,

"Granger, would you let me in, please?" he pleaded through the door.

"Go away, Malfoy. I'm not in the mood."

"Please, just let me apologise. I hate it when you're not talking to me." Draco absentmindedly ran his hand over her door. "I miss my best friend, Granger."

He waited for a few moments, but she didn't answer.

He took a deep breath; "Look, I'm sorry. Hermione. I'm sorry as fuck. I was a complete arse."

After a moment or so Hermione slowly opened her door and went back to sitting on her bed, her back resting against the headboard.

"Thank you for opening the door. May I come in?" he asked, but he'd already stepped over the threshold.

Hermione just shrugged.

Feeling a little victorious that it hadn't taken her _that_ long to open the door he walked in and sat down opposite her on the bed, "I'll take that as a yes, then."

"Alright. You said you're sorry. Why?" she asked dryly.

"I'm sorry that I was inconsiderate of your feelings. I know that you're bothered by me not using my bed to copulate and that's a justified complaint." he said.

"Go on." She leered at him.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. That's just fucked up and I don't want to be yelling at you." he continued.

Hermione seemed to be softening up a bit.

He took a deep breath and said;

"But most of all, I'm sorry that I say one thing and then do something else."

Evidently Hermione wasn't following his train of thoughts anymore and just looked at him, confused,

"What do you mean?"

"I tell you I think the world of you. That you _are_ my world. And you really are, Granger. But I must admit that I sometimes have a poor way of showing it." He scratched the back of his head, looking sort of sheepish.

Hermione gave him a look telling him she obviously agreed with him.

"And I'll confess that maybe, just _maybe_ , I was a teeny-tiny bit jealous of Captain Quidditch. And that jealousy might have driven me to make some poor decisions. But I'm over it. Change is a part of life. And I'll just have to have faith that as long as I'm not being a complete arse and do show you how much you mean to me I'll still be your favourite bloke." he tilted his head slightly and gave her a crooked smile.

That was the last straw and Hermione's face finally lit up in a smile.

"Oh, I hate that you're such a smooth-talker!" She hit him with a pillow.

"And whatever changes may come I know I only want to face them _with_ you. You're my rock." He put a stray lock behind her ear.

"I hate how I can't stay mad at you even if I want to." she muttered. "And I will forgive you, but not just yet."

"Look, I know I can't take back what I did, I can only promise you I'll behave more mature in the future." He scooted to sit next to her, both of them resting their backs against the headboard of her bed.

"So you won't be parading Astoria naked around the flat anymore?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

He chuckled dryly, "No. No I don't think I'll be seeing her that way myself anywhere anymore. We both agreed we didn't want that kind of relationship."

"Can't blame her. With you being a moron and all." She gave him a little nudge.

"Right. I deserved that. I really am sorry, Hermione." Using her given name wasn't something he did very often. In fact, she could probably count the times he had on her one hand. So when he did, she knew he really was sincere.

"I know you are. But one of these days sorry won't be enough. It can't be your strategy to do mean and stupid things and then apologise after."

He knew she was right and he felt his stomach twist into a knot at the thought of loosing her. No, he simply wouldn't allow that.

"I know." he said. "I never intended to hurt you. But I know I did and that makes me feel like shite."

"You should." she turned to face him. "But now that you've said that I'd like to drop this topic."

"Right." Draco nodded. "So, are we alright?"

"We will be." she smiled at him.

"So, can I ask you how things are going with Captain Quidditch? You seem to have hit it off." He didn't really sound as casual as he'd liked to, but it was close enough and Hermione was grateful that he tried.

"Yeah, things are going well. I like spending time with him. We're keeping things light and breezy." she smiled.

"Light and breezy, eh? Well that's good. I'm happy you're happy." Draco nodded.

There was a pause where Hermione played with a lock of her hair and Draco fiddled with the seam of her blanket.

Knowing his next words could either send Hermione into another rage or it could very well restore their friendship, he asked; "So, does he bleach his areholse, then?"

Hermione couldn't hold back her laugh and she laughed uncontrollably and Draco knew she wouldn't rip his eyes out for it and he was safe.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" she asked when she'd gathered herself.

"Just making conversation." he smirked.

"Well, you'll have to ask him. I'm not telling you." she smirked back.

"Right, you respect his integrity. Fair enough." Draco nodded.

"Malfoy, do you remember what I told you the night we got home from your parent's house?" Hermione suddenly asked.

"You said a lot of things that night. Can you be more specific?" he put his arm around her shoulder, and to his great pleasure she leaned into him a bit.

"I asked you if me dating Oliver would be a problem. You told me it wouldn't be and I said 'good, because I don't want it to be." she said. "So, I'll ask you this again, and _please_ be honest with me; is there a problem with me dating Oliver?"

Draco drew small circles on her shoulder for a while, contemplating his answer.

"No, it's not a problem." he finally said.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief,

"Thank you. I know you're not a 100 % fine with me dating Oliver. You don't have to explain why, but can you just _please_ find a way to at least act like you're okay with it? Please, as my best friend, do me this favour." As she looked up at him with her huge almond shaped eyes, and Draco felt his heart melt a little.

"Of course." he said. "I'll find a way to be okay with it."

Hermione sighed, put her head to rest on his shoulder and said:

"Thank you. And you know, you really are an idiot sometimes. But I still love you. And I missed you."

"I missed you too. And I do love you too, Granger." He kissed the top of her head.

* * *

 **So, this chapter was mostly just talk, talk, talk. Hope you wern't too bored. But they had some things to talk about, didn't they?**

 **I do have an idea of what will happen in the next chapter, and if I'm right things will get interesting. Very interesting. My only hint; a dinner and a pitcher of sangria will be involved.**

 **What do you think will happen? What do you** _ **wish**_ **will happen? I really do love hearing your thoughts. It makes my day!**

 **Cheers!**


	6. Chapter 6

**First of all, let me dedicate a warm thank you to all the favs, follows and reviews! The fact that you seem to like what I write makes me want to write even more! So thank you!**

* * *

Over the next couple of days Draco really did try his best to tolerate Oliver. Because let's face it, it was _tolerating_. Not only did Oliver mess up Draco's bookshelf by not putting the books he borrowed back where he took them, the man had the audacity to tell Draco "mate, you need to relax" when Draco had pointed this out to him. But he did notice how much Hermione appreciated his efforts, and therefore it was worth it.

But this night. This Friday night was one Draco was looking forward to; Captain Quidditch had a night practice. Evidently the Prune Head United's, or whatever the name of the team was, liked to be prepared for any game-condition and therefore had night practises every once in a while. This meant a Friday night with no Captain Quidditch in sight. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Good times. Oh, jolly good times, indeed.

"Honey, I'm home." he greeted that evening as he stepped out of the fireplace and dusted some ash off his Tom Ford suit.

"Had a good day?" Hermione asked as she was sitting by their kitchen table going through what seemed like a mountain of parchments.

"Indeed, and the day just got a whole lot better." He kissed her on the cheek to which she smiled content. "How was your day?"

"Lousy. I'm not getting anywhere with this." she ran her hands through her long, bushy hair in frustration.

Draco sat down on the table next to her mountain of parchments, "No worries. It's Friday, Granger, and time to stop working."

"I wish I ran my own company and could decide when it was time to call it the weekend." she muttered.

"I'll give you 20 minutes to wrap it up. Then it's quitting time." he smirked as he walked out of the kitchen.

As he walked out of the kitchen Hermione glanced at the clock hanging over the table. It showed 6.30 PM. She sighed and smiled a little to herself. It was always nice to see him in such a good mood, always so contagious and she really did fancy putting the work down for the weekend.

Twenty minutes later Draco returned, now wearing dark brown chinos and a casual white shirt. This time he sat down on top of her paper.

"Hey, I've got something to show you." he smirked.

Annoyed, she tried pulling some parchments free from under him.

"Is it your impression of Filch eating soup?" she frowned. "Because I'm not in the mood."

"Your 20 minutes are up. Stop being so stubborn and just come with me."

When Hermione didn't make an effort to oblige he grabbed her hand and led her into her bedroom. As she stepped inside her eyes landed on her bed. Over the headboard hung a dream catcher. The circles were white and weaved into the middle was small jade beads and fire-red Phoenix-feathers hung down from the circles.

"Did you… Did you make this yourself?" She admired the construction in awe.

"Yeah, I did. For you. I reckon since you and Captain Quidditch seems to hit it off so well it would almost seem inappropriate for me to be the one to comfort you when the nightmares come. And since I know he won't be doing the job well enough I thought I'd get you something for backup." he smirked.

"Malfoy… This is so sweet. At least it was until you insulted Oliver. But I guess it wouldn't really be you if you didn't." She turned towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck embracing him in a warm hug.

Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, returning the hug.

"Do you like it?" he asked into the top of her head.

"Love it." she sighed against his chest.

He smiled to himself, "Good, because I also do have a request."

"What is it?" she looked up at him, her arms still around his neck.

"Go on a friend-date with me tonight." Gently he let his thumb grace the small of her back. "I made reservations at that Spanish place you love at Crouch End. Please have dinner and lots and lots of sangria with me."

"Like you even have to ask twice." she smirked.

"Good." he smirked as he released her from the hug and begun walking out. "Now put some Muggle-clothes on. We're leaving in 15 minutes."

Two hours later Hermione and Draco were sitting at the restaurant, sharing a wide selection of tapas dishes and their second pitcher of sangria. A live band was playing somewhere in the restaurant and with the hot summer night-weather the atmosphere could only be described as Mediterranean. She was wearing a boho-styled long blue dress with a very deep neckline. He was wearing the dark brown chinos and the white shirt that (had it been a respectable event) was left with too many buttons undone.

"Did I remember to thank you for the dream catcher?" Hermione suddenly asked.

Draco smirked as he refilled their glasses, "No, I guess you didn't. How very rude."

"You seem to have that impact on me, making me forget my manners sometimes." she smirked back at him. "Really, thank you. I absolutely love it."

"I'm glad to hear. And may it bring you many nights of comfort." he raised his glass in a toast.

"I'm sure it will." she smiled, returning his toast. "You know, it's almost a bit uncanny. How did you know Oliver isn't really handling the nightmares so well?"

"Educated guess." he shrugged taking a sip of the sangria.

"It sort of bothers me, to be honest." she sighed. "I don't think I'm asking for much, just not for him to freeze and become paralysed."

"Well, he doesn't seem to have lived a very hard life. He's probably got no clue what it's like having nightmares. I mean _real_ nightmares, like the ones we have." he shrugged.

"Hm, guess you're right. Never thought of it like that before." Hermione seemed to think for a moment before she continued, "Malfoy, would it be awfully weird and inappropriate if I asked you a question about Oliver and me?"

"Yeah, honestly it sort of would." he said, frankly. "But do it anyway. We love weird and inappropriate, don't we?"

Hermione giggled, "I guess we do."

She bit her bottom lip, contemplating how to phrase her next sentences,

"But in all seriousness, there are just so many things that bothers me about him. Is it supposed to be like that?"

Draco just stared at her for a moment, "Um, I don't know. Like what sorts of things?"

"Honestly? Everything. He always spoils the plot of every film we watch, always leaves his dirty socks in the bed, he snores-"

"He uses the word _literally_ too excessively." Draco supplied.

"You've noticed that too?" her face almost lit up. Almost.

Draco snorted, "How could I not when it seems to be his favourite word in the English dictionary?"

Hermione bit her bottom lip again, realising how very unbecoming and rude her behaviour was, "Yeah. Well, I'm done bashing Oliver now. It wasn't very nice of me, but I just had to get it out."

"Can I ask you a question about him? An honest question?" he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.

"Yeah, sure." she leaned forward as well.

"Why do you even date that bloke?" he asked with a tone too sincere to fit the question. "He's the most boring man in the Wizarding World!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and leaned back in her chair.

Draco gasped, "Oh no, he's got a really big penis, doesn't he?"

At this Hermione couldn't help but burst into laughter, "You must be the most inappropriate man alive!"

He chuckled, "Probably true. But I really don't want to hear any more about your new man or his abnormally large manhood."

"Right." She smiled at him, leaned back in her chair and simply enjoyed the moment. The delicious food, the sangria that made her _just_ the right amount of tipsy, the music that pulsed through her and made her slowly sway back and forth in her seat.

"Dance with me, Granger."

"You really want to be seen dancing with me?" she arched an eyebrow at him.

He rose from his chair and walked around the table holding out his hand, "I know you've got two left feet but I've had enough sangria not to be bothered."

After giving him a hesitant look for about a split second she took his hand and let him lead them out to the dance floor.

It started out a little awkward, no doubt. Hermione accidentally stepped on Draco's feet a couple of times, but neither of them really cared.

"Don't _think_ about what you're doing, just _do_." He put both his hands on her waist and guided her hips to move to the rhythm.

"Easy for you to say." She rolled her eyes at him. "You grew up having a professional dancing teacher."

He chuckled softly. "Not this kind of dancing, though. I grew up with formal dancing. This, you dance with passion."

He placed her right hand on his chest and grabbed her left, moving them to the music.

"Good, you're doing good. I knew you could dance." he smirked.

"It's easy when you've got the right teacher." she smirked back.

It seemed he moved them so effortlessly and it was so easy for her to get lost in the rhythm. The rhythm of him. With the way he used his body to manoeuvre hers. Those unbuttoned buttons that showed off just enough of his toned pecs. The few lights in the venue reflecting in his eyes. His stormy, grey eyes, so full of emotions. She bit her bottom lip.

"Are you turned on right now by any chance, Granger?"

Her eyes grew wide as saucers and her cheeks took on the shade of tomatoes, involuntarily naturally.

"What makes you say that?" she gasped.

He smirked, "You're pupils are dilated like crazy. So either you're extremely turned on by this or you're extremely caned, in which case; how come you haven't shared?"

She blinked a few times, searching for the right words. What were the right words, anyway? Was there a lot of excitement going on in her chest, stomach and _possibly_ further down? Well, it couldn't be ruled out. But that was the atmosphere, wasn't it? The food, the sangria, the music, his touch, his smile, his eyes… Oh fuck. _Fuuuuck_.

"So, which one is it, lust or drugs? Because I certainly know which one I'd fancy."

"Um… I… well… I…" she stuttered and blushed yet again.

Draco, deciding to let her off the hook, just laughed and hugged her closer to his body, continuing moving them to the music and the moment passed.

At least it seemed it passed to him, but in Hermione's head her thoughts were spinning. She _was_ turned on, wasn't she? But that must mean… Was that alright? Should she feel guilty? Should she stop this? Tell him she wanted to go home?

Yeah, she probably _should_. But she didn't _want_ to. She loved being tightly pressed against his chest, inhaling his scent. That was her favourite place in the whole world. It had been for years. But she _shouldn't_ feel that way, right? Truth be told she probably always _should_ and _shouldn't_ a lot of things.

Shaking her head to discard her thoughts she made up her mind. Tonight she wouldn't care about any of that. Tonight she would just let things happen or not happen. Either way. Consequences could wait until morning. Or until one afternoon in her next reincarnation.

"You alright?" he asked, noticing her thoughts wonder.

"Yeah, never better." And she really meant it.

After the dance they got dessert to go; a large bag of churros a bowl of melted chocolate. This, Hermione realised, was another thing she valued about their friendship. They both occasionally enjoyed a night out; eating out, having a pint, and being susceptible to new impressions. But as much as they enjoyed that the thing they enjoyed even more was being at home. Just the two of them. Just being. And that was exactly what they were doing as they were comfortably seated on the sofa eating churros sharing another bottle of wine.

"Oh my god! These churros are the best I've ever had!" Hermione double-dipped the stick in the chocolate and took another bite.

"Well, you know what they say; if it tastes good, it's trying to kill you." Draco smirked as he, too, dipped the sweet. "And you just double-dipped."

"One bag certainly won't kill us, I'm sure." she smiled.

He took a bite of the churro, "A rule of thumb would also be that anything we want more of isn't good for us. But I know you don't see it that way."

"You just think I'm naïve because I don't share you pessimistic world view." she teased, licking some chocolate off her finger.

"Yeah, that." He dipped his finger in the chocolate and smeared some on her nose. "And you read romance novels."

She wiped her nose clean with a napkin, "So? Is there something wrong because I enjoy some romance in my life?"

"On the contrary, I encourage it." he said sincere as he refilled their wineglasses. "But why does it have to be books that uses phrases such as _the age-old rhythm_ , _molten need_ and _love's sweet arrow_? Sounds fucking ridiculous."

"Have you actually _read_ said books?" she frowned at him.

"Of course!" He took a sip of wine. "But why do you have to _read_ it? Why don't you just _live_ it?"

"I do, I really do. It's just…" She suddenly became very interested in the churro. "Are these covered with honey or sugar?"

"No, come on. Don't change the subject. Tell me." He leaned back against the backrest and placed his arm on top of it, behind her. "And it's obviously sugar, but you knew that already."

She emptied the glass and leaned back, letting her head fall back onto his outstretched arm, "I don't think I really can."

That wasn't the answer he'd guessed, "Why not?"

Taking in a deep breath she mustered some of that famous Gryffindor courage. Well, the two pitchers of sangria helped as well.

She turned her head to face him, "Because of you."

She didn't need to elaborate further. He understood perfectly well what she meant, "Oh. Fuck. This just got really real, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it sort of did." she grimaced.

"How long have you felt this way?" The playful bantering that had been the tone of their conversation up until then was now completely gone.

Pressing her lips together she faced away from him, looking out to the room again, "I know it's really not fair of me to tell you that and then not want to talk about it. But I really don't'. Not tonight. It wouldn't be fair."

"Yeah. I can understand that. I asked and you answered. It's okay not to elaborate right now." He nodded slowly. "And that's why I love you so much, Granger. You've got such a good heart. So warm and compassionate."

She turned to him and gave him a weak smile.

"But just so you know, I'm not dropping this." he gave her a smirk.

Rolling her eyes at him in mock annoyance she said, "I wouldn't expect you to."

"But in the meantime, can I tell you something?" He sat up a little straighter and leaned towards her.

"Of course. Please, tell me." She refilled their glasses.

"So, I'm just going to say it, okay?" He took a sip.

"Yeah, alright." She waited patiently.

"So, just going to lay it out there." Another sip.

"Malfoy, just tell me already. It's me. You know you can tell me anything."

This would have been so much easier for him if she didn't sound so fucking understanding.

"Yeah… well, the thing is. Erhm" He cleared his throat. "Fuck. Why is this so hard? I've practised this in front of the mirror a thousand times the last few weeks."

"Just say it. Don't _think_ , just _do_." She mimicked his words from earlier that evening.

So he did just that,

"I'm in love with you."

As he let his words sink in he studied her face. Her expression went from mild shock to astonishment to happiness.

"I know-"

He cut her off, "You don't have to respond. Really. I just wanted to tell you."

For a moment there was silent. A long, long silence. Then Hermione's face lit up in a warm smile, the kind of warmth only her smile could give,

"You practised saying this in front of the mirror?"

To his great annoyance, he felt his ears turning warm,

"Of course I did. This makes our relationship complicated. And we agreed we didn't want complicated."

"Oh, you sweet, lovable fool." She cupped his face. "If you think our relationship hasn't been complicated up until this point, you haven't been paying attention."

* * *

 **Sooooooooo… Finally we're getting somewhere with these two stubborn – nay -** _ **proud**_ **people, right?**

 **But what happens next? Why doesn't Hermione want to talk about it? When will she be ready to? Did they just make their relationship more complicated or will it all fall into place?**

 **Let me know what you think will happen and what you think of this chapter! Your thoughts really do make my day! :)**

 **Cheers!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Right, so first, let me say that having _100_ _people_ finding what I write interesting enough to choose to follow this story really makes me happy beyond words! I never would have expected that and to me this is a really big deal, so thank you! **

**Now, onwards with the story!**

* * *

The unreasonably bright sunrays shined into Draco's bedroom the next morning and woke him from his drunken slumber. Even before he opened his eyes he deduced there must have been actual lead inside his head, because it ached mercilessly. As he slowly became more and more conscious he felt he was hugging a lump in his arms. Carefully, not to cause more trauma to his already sensitive head, he peered with one eye at the lump.

It was a pillow.

He was hugging a fucking pillow.

Why?

Annoyed, and somewhat confused, he sighed deeply. And it then became quite obvious why he was clinging to it. The pillow smelled like her.

A little disoriented he tried to recall the events of last night.

Dinner. There was a dinner. They went on a friend-date at that Spanish place.

And there was sangria. Lots and lots and _lots_ of sangria.

 _Guess that solves the mystery of the inexplicable headache, then._

They'd danced. And laughed. He remembered laughing.

And back home they'd talked. It had been about something important. About… them? Yeah, probably. But what had they said? He couldn't remember exactly but he had a feeling lingering in the pit of his stomach from last night. Or two feelings, rather.

One was happy, that one was easy to identify.

But the other one… What was that? Some sort of melancholy?

Why? Had he said something stupid? Was she mad at him?

Evidently his memory failed him and he grunted and turned to lie on his back, instantly regretting this swift motion as his head pounded immensely.

As he was lying there, feeling sorry for himself the door to his room slowly opened and Hermione, wearing one of his white t-shirts and a pair of black lace knickers, looking just as dreadful as he felt, walked in. With a loud grunt she plopped face-down onto his bed. From this position he could clearly see she wore a thong, as the shirt wasn't long enough to cover her bum when she lie down with her arms over her head. He took a moment to admire her perfectly sculptured round arse.

"Morning, Granger." he greeted in a hoarse voice. "You look like they just dragged your body out of a river."

"No, you're wrong. I look like a renounced rockstar who just OD'ed in their claw foot bathtub." she grunted into his pillow.

Draco chuckled and turned to lie on his side, facing her.

"I think I'm dying, Malfoy. I seriously think I'm dying." Her muffled voice was barely audibly.

"Yeah, I don't remember being hangover as _this_ awful. Is this what getting old is like?" he whined.

Hermione crawled under his blanket, shifted to a fetal position facing him and said in the measliest voice, "Please play with my hair while I feel sorry for myself."

He obliged, and gladly so.

Since she sought him out like this, in his _bed_ , begging for physical contact he couldn't have said anything _too_ stupid last night, right?

Gently he ran his fingers through her hair, "We must have successfully drank all the alcohol in London last night."

"Yeah, my whole body has dry mouth." she whined. "I'm never drinking again."

"Too bad, because we're having drinks tonight to celebrate Weaslett's birthday, remember?" His fingers travelled along her hair and down her back, making Hermione shiver with pleasure.

She scooted closer and nuzzled her head in his neck, "I think I'm sick and can't make it. Maybe I should just stay here the whole day."

"You're not sick, you dirty skiver." he smirked. "But I do agree staying in bed tops the list of things I want to do today."

He continued stroking her hair, arms and back and she continued making small noises of contentment, as she pressed closer to his body.

One by one, bits and pieces from the night before came back to him.

He'd told her he was in love with her. Even though it had been terrifying it had felt good finally saying it. And she hadn't seemed spooked by it.

In fact; she'd told him _he_ was the reason her love life wasn't somehow all she wanted it to be. What had she really meant by that? Was his feelings returned? She didn't want to talk about it, not yet at least. Was it because she was still seeing Captain Quidditch?

Urgh.

But she'd said they kept things light and breezy, hadn't she?

No matter, Captain Quidditch wasn't his concern; _he_ certainly wasn't the one dating the git.

No, the only thing on his mind at this moment should be the petite witch currently snuggled up against his chest, craving his affection, and somehow, even though suffering terrible symptoms of bottle-ache, still managed to smell incredibly good. He could do that.

Softly, he let his hand glide down her shoulder, arm, waist and finally her hip. Hermione wrapped her arm around his waist, pulling him even closer so they were now lying flush against each other. Gently, as if not to scare her off, he snaked his hand under her t-shirt and ran his fingertips up her spine, then down again.

"Mhmm." She tilted her head slightly upwards, her lips now pressed against his throat sending delightful vibrations through his body.

Too delightful.

He had to bite his lip in order to stifle a moan, but he really shouldn't have bothered since _other_ physical responses weren't so easy to control. Of course the treacherous horn inside his boxer briefs would give him away. Obviously, Hermione had took notice of the certain part of his anatomy stiffening because he felt her smile against his neck.

"Are you turned on right now by any chance, Malfoy?" she teased.

Clearing his throat he simply said, "Either that, or it's a normal dragon dick since I just woke up. But can you honestly blame me?"

"You mean _I_ have this effect on _you_?" Her smile grew wider.

"Of course you do." He rolled his eyes. "But I think you already suspected that, you just wanted me to say it out loud."

Trying to ignore the growing bulge he continued trailing his fingertips along the warm skin on her back. His predicament only grew bigger when she planted a soft kiss on his neck.

He cleared his throat again, "Ehrm. I'm going to get some water. And a hangover potion. Want some?"

"Please." she said, her voice so soft.

He scrambled out of bed, grabbing the first pair of joggers he found that were draped over the back of a chair.

"Right. I'll be back in a jiffy." he mumbled.

"I'll just wait here then." she said.

He nodded and left the room.

Still a bit wobbly, partly from the absence of blood in his brain and partly due to the hangover, Draco stumbled and bounced between the walls as he made his way out to the kitchen. As he was searching the cupboards for the hangover cure he heard the all too familiar sound of someone arriving via the floo.

 _For the love of Merlin let it be Blaise, my mother, Death or even Harry sodding Potter just don't let it be…_

"Malfoy, good morning."

… _Oliver bloody Wood. Naturally, Sod's Law and all that…_

Draco sighed and turned around, but not before trying to conceal the rather noticeable tent pole in his pants.

"Morning, Wood." he muttered.

"Oh my, you look awfully tired." Oliver at least had the common sense to look empathic, even if he didn't sound it one bit. "You literally look like a corpse."

" _Literally_? Hm. Nothing gets past you, does it?" Draco mumbled under his breath. "So, how was practice last night?"

"Oh, it went superb. Now we're completely ready for this season." Oliver grinned. "How was your night?"

Draco groaned inwardly. Why did he have to be stupid enough to ask? Oh well, no point in avoiding the inevitable. Captain Quidditch would find out eventually.

"Um, me and Granger went out for dinner, actually. At that Spanish place." he said as he pulled the hangover cure from the cupboard.

"Is that a hangover potion? Must have been a fun night, eh?" Even though Oliver tried his best to conceal it, his voice had a distinct undertone of annoyance.

During the past weeks Oliver hadn't really said so out lout, but Draco _knew_ Oliver didn't like it that Draco and Hermione had made up. Draco could see how their routine greetings, the occasional hug for no reason, the peck on the cheek and the overall intimacy of their friendship bothered Oliver. Perhaps that was why Draco just _couldn't_ resist.

"Oh yeah! It was brilliant! Good food, dancing, lots and _lots_ of sangria…" he said airily.

"Where's Hermione now? Is she awake?" Oliver asked, his jaws clenching a bit.

After fighting an inner battle for about two seconds, the git inside him won,

"She's in my bed, actually."

Oliver's gaze flickered from Draco's ruffled bed hair, to his bare chest, to the joggers he wore barely hanging over his hips, to the _two_ hangover potions he carried. No doubt Captain Quidditch was well on his way jumping to some, not true, but plausible and horrible conclusions.

"Shall I get her for you?" Draco asked, as cool as a cucumber.

When Oliver seemed to have lost his ability to speak Draco turned to leave.

"Hang on!" Oliver said, making Draco stop and turn to face the other man. "Before you do, just tell me."

"Tell you what, Wood?" Draco asked, deciding to play oblivious.

"Did… did you two…?" Oliver did not seem to even want to say it out loud.

"Did we what? Are you asking me if I shagged Granger last night, eh Wood?" Draco narrowed his eyes at Oliver.

Oliver nodded, "Yes. Please, just tell me."

"Oh, Wood." Draco tsked and shook his head and smirked. "Why is it that you consider it necessary to ask _me_? Don't you trust Hermione would be honest if you asked her?"

"Well. Literally, did you?" Oliver's voice grew steadier and from the corner of his eye Draco saw the other man motioning towards his wand.

Draco dropped his smirk, deciding he'd tormented the poor sod enough, "No. We didn't have sex. We came home, ate churros and went to bed, separately. This morning she came into my room to feel sorry for herself, declaring she was dying from the hangover."

"So you mean to tell me the two of you went on what sounds a lot like a fucking date, got completely legless and now, the next morning, she's in your bed. But literally nothing happened. That seems almost impossible." Oliver frowned.

"Yeah, _almost_ being the key-word here. I'll just go and get her for you." Draco begun walking out of the kitchen, but before he disappeared he made sure to let Oliver hear him mumble, "But it wasn't like I didn't _wanted_ it to."

Chuckling to himself as he head Oliver's sharp intake of air he continued strolling towards his bedroom. When he entered the sight of Hermione lying on his bed with one leg outside of the blanket met him. She really did just have the most brilliant arse, didn't she? He was _almost_ tempted to bite it, but decided against it and sat down on the bed and handed her one of the potions.

"Cheers." he said and downed his own.

She did the same, grimacing at the fowl taste.

"Thank you." She sat aside the flask.

"You're welcome. You should feel better in no time." He then smirked. "In the meantime, Captain Quidditch is in the kitchen, waiting for you."

Hermione made huge eyes at him, "Why?"

"Well, he certainly wasn't here to see me." Draco scoffed. "And also I might have, accidently of course, upset him a tad bit by letting him know you were currently to be found residing in my bed."

"Malfoy, bloody hell! Why would you do that?" she groaned, covering her face with her hands.

"Because it's true? Why is that a problem? You're not here for unsuitable reasons, are you?" he mused.

She didn't need to say it out loud. The dark look she gave him said it for her.

He sat down on the bed next to her,

"Granger, I'm not telling you what to do. But I'm telling you this isn't fair. Not to any of us. I'm in love with you, Captain Quidditch thinks you're dating and that things are going well. What you make of all this, I really don't know. But I reckon you do feel something for me as well. Regardless if you intend to act on it or not, you should talk to him. He's waiting for you."

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair,

"Can I borrow a pair of pants? I'm not walking out to him undressed like this."

He chuckled contently, pulled off his own joggers and tossed them to her. "I'll just wait here, _undressed like this_."

"You really are enjoying this, aren't you?" she frowned as she pulled on the pants.

"Immensely so. This is turning out to be the best hangover I've ever had." he smirked.

She gave him the two-fingered salute before she disappeared out of his room.

Very satisfied with how things seemed to work out, Draco lie down on his bed, arms behind his head, and waited. He heard raised voices, but they quickly faded and he strongly suspected Hermione had cast a silencing charm. After about half an hour Hermione reappeared in his doorway, looking tired.

"Did the hangover potion kick in yet?" Draco asked as she plopped down on his bed for the second time that morning.

"Yeah. I'm feeling loads better, thanks." she muttered.

"You still look tired." he said, turning to lie on his side with his head resting on his arm.

"You know, I seem to hear that a lot today. Apparently, I just look like shit today." she said, facing him as well.

"No you don't. You look beautiful." He put a stray lock behind her ear. "How did it go?"

She sighed, "He made it really easy for me. Told me it was either him or you."

"Oh. Sorry." Draco said.

"Don't be." she gave him a small smile. "You're my best friend in the whole world. I'd always pick you."

"I love hearing that." He scooted closer to her and pulled her into his arms.

She wrapped her arms around his waist.

"So, where does this leave us?" he asked into her hair.

"I don't know." She sighed drawing small circles on his back with her finger. "Where do you want this to leave us?"

She looked up at him and as his grey eyes met her amber one's he knew. He was dead sure.

"I know exactly where I want that to leave us. You know I do. But if you're not sure, I'll wait until you are." he said.

"I don't want to lose you. You're my best friend." she nuzzled her nose into his neck.

"And I'll always be. No matter what." He kissed the top of her head.

"Always?"

"Always."

* * *

 **So, things seem to be totally coming up Draco, aren't they?**

 **Let me know your thoughts on the chapter and what might yet to come! You know how I love that! :)**

 **Cheers!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Right, first let me say I'm SO sorry for going M.I.A for a month. The reason I haven't posted is work-related so I won't bore you with details. Making a long story short I was temporarily given a new position, which entailed me talking to people all day long. So when I got home I didn't really fancy spending time with anyone, not even the characters in this story, festive as they are. But hopefully you haven't completely lost faith in me yet. And fear not, I'm back to my normal position at work now and thus: onwards with the story :)**

* * *

A week. A whole bloody week had passed since the morning of the _inexplicable headache_ but it had been an uneventful week, unfortunately. Hermione showed no desire to talk about her feelings. Usually, Draco wouldn't mind. Quite the contrary, he usually encouraged not talking about feelings. But as it happened this time he couldn't help but be a little curious. Hell, that would have been an understatement. He was fucking _dying_ to find out what was going on inside that bushy head of hers. But as it was Draco had promised to give Hermione some space and not push her until she was ready to talk about it. In the meantime Draco resorted to try and figure on his own out where her heart was in this.

Sadly the week that had passed didn't leave him any wiser. They had ended up spending that whole day in bed, but nothing even remotely interesting had happened after Hermione had oh so unceremoniously dumped Captain Quidditch. Merlin's honest truth Draco had hoped for some actions on Hermione's part the following week that would've showed him her true feelings. But no such luck.

Sure, it seemed Hermione was wearing a little less clothes around the flat than usual. But the heat wave that was currently plaguing London couldn't be ruled out as the cause of his more-than-usually undressed flatmate. And sure, Hermione seemed to be a little more, well, _physical_ than usual. Like as in her new favourite place to sit seemed to be in Draco's lap. But as soon as his hands travelled too far up her thigh she'd tell him to keep his hands to himself.

No, that couldn't be considered damning evidence. And Draco felt he could do with some damning evidence just about now; not knowing where Hermione stood in all of this really did put a spanner in the works for him.

"Draco!"

Slowly returning to present time and space Draco looked up from his stack of papers only to find Pansy Parkinson impatiently tapping her fingers on his desk.

"Alright, Pansy?" he asked, blankly.

"I've been calling your name ten times. What's gotten you away with the fairies like this?" Pansy sat down on the other side of his desk.

"Nothing." he muttered, collecting his parchments and stacking them in a neat pile.

"I've only seen you this down once before and that was after the first time you met Hermione's parents and things didn't go so well." Pansy chuckled to herself remembering how devastated Draco had been when he thought Mr and Mrs Granger would never approve of his friendship with their daughter after having accidentally set fire to Mrs Granger's favourite hydrangea bush.

That had been two years ago and now both Hermione's parents absolutely adored Draco.

"This _is_ about her, innit?" Pansy smirked.

Draco sighed annoyed, "A bit. Possibly. But it's also a little bit about this desk drawer being full of Flobberworms." He opened the drawer and revealed a half dozen Flobberworms crawling around in there.

"Minging." Pansy wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Do you want to grab a pint and talk about it? Blaise and I are grabbing one at the Leaky Cauldron."

"Talk about my Flobberworm-drawer? No thanks." Draco answered absentmindedly, poking his wand at a particularly fat worm making it curl up into a ball.

"I meant talk about the thing with Hermione." Pansy clarified. "I'm sure having a pint with your mates will make you feel loads better."

"Hmmm. Now I'm torn between staying here and stare into my Flobberworm-drawer and having a pint with you lot. I'm leaning towards having a pint, but I don't think having one will make me feel better." Draco sighed, closing the drawer. "Having a lot might. Let's go."

In a dimly lit corner booth at the Leaky Cauldron Draco, Pansy and Blaise could be found some time later.

"So, let me get this straight." said Blaise as Tom, the barkeep, brought them another round. "You and Hermione are on great terms, you've finally managed to get over your stubbornness and told her you're in love with her and then Hermione chucks Captain Quidditch. But somehow you're still brooding. One might almost wonder why, mate?"

"Because I still don't know how she feels about me. Hasn't said a word about it yet." Draco rolled his eyes in annoyance that Blaise didn't seem to keep up.

"But it's obvious she feels the same way, innit?" Blaise said. "Why else would she dump Captain Quidditch?"

"Because he's a wanker? Always was and always will be?" Draco offered.

"I don't think you're totally wrong here, Draco." Pansy said thoughtfully.

"Oh spare me, please!" Blaise huffed. He looked between both of his friends in mild disbelief. "I know Wood isn't our favourite person being a sodding Gryffindor and what not, but in all fairness he really _is_ a decent bloke."

"No, he's the absolute worse!" Draco snorted while at the same time Pansy said: "Yeah, he's decent. That's not what I meant."

Draco turned to Pansy and frowned,

"What do you mean, then?"

"Well, all I meant was that you weren't necessarily the one to break them up. Not in that sense anyway. I think there was a good chance Wood brought this on himself." Pansy started. When she saw Draco smiling triumphantly she quickly added, "Not because he's a wanker. But because he couldn't handle yours and Hermione's friendship."

Draco snorted, "C'mon! That's ridiculous. For all he knew Granger and I are just _friends_."

"A bit close for _just_ friends though, aren't you? I mean you share each others' toothbrushes for Merlin's sake." Pansy cringed. "Honestly, that always rubbed me the wrong way when you and I were together."

Blaise leaned forward smiling brightly at Pansy, "Oh please, do go on, love."

"No need for Pansy to point out what a lousy boyfriend I was to her in the past." Draco muttered and took a sip of his beer. "Because that's where this belongs, in the past."

"Come on mate, this is a unique and brilliant opportunity to hear the inside scope of how being a partner is like when you've got to share your partner with their best friend." Blaise said as if this was an important and serious part of an investigation but Draco, seeing through his friend knowing gossip was the real purpose, merely rolled his eyes.

"No, we're not discussing Pansy's and my relationship." he said firmly.

"Agreed, we're not." Pansy shook her head. "But I can tell you what I think happened to Wood. I think he was jealous. And his first mistake was showing it."

Draco watched Pansy closely for a while. "Pans, erm, were _you_ ever jealous?"

"Of course I was." Pansy rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "You daft oaf. I swear to Merlin boys are so dense!"

Blaise grinned brightly but Draco just nodded, encouraging Pansy to go on.

"Of course I was jealous of how close you were. But I wasn't at Hogwarts with you that year. I get that you were lonely and found each other. You said nothing ever happened between you and I believed you, I still do. But of course I felt neglected when there were things you'd tell her and not me. And that she could make you laugh in a way I never could didn't really make me feel special, now did it? Is that really so strange?" Pansy asked, tilting her head slightly.

"No, I guess not. But why didn't you ever tell me?" Draco asked.

He really didn't like it that Pansy had kept this piece of information to herself for all these years. And he really couldn't help but feel a lot like a prick for putting her through this.

Pansy merely snorted, as if offended,

"Because I'm not a bloody Gryffindor wearing my heart on my sleeve. I knew telling you wouldn't make a difference in your relationship with Hermione. I reckon Wood didn't realise that. And that was his second mistake."

"Pans, that actually makes sense." Blaise ran his hand over his chin. "I bet Wood couldn't settle knowing Draco would always come first to Hermione."

Pansy nodded slowly, "And the moment Wood let show he wasn't 100 % okay with their friendship he didn't stand a chance. Poor sod. But here's the kicker, though. I don't think we really should feel too sorry for Wood."

Draco turned to Pansy in surprise, "What? What makes you say that? He was dating a woman he was doomed never to end up with."

"Well, that's exactly the reason; their romance was doomed from the start. But Wood chose to pursuit it anyway so I'd say he's really taken the biscuit. Even if he would never admit it he knew you'd always trump him." Pansy shrugged. "If he really wanted to be with Hermione he should have just shut up about it and accepted that you and Hermione are so stubborn you'll do whatever you want regardless what others think."

"Was that a compliment or a bag of shite? I'm not quite sure." Blaise mused.

"Coming from Pansy I'm assuming it was a bag of shite." Draco muttered and rose from his seat. "Thanks for the pints. I'm going home now where I can here you worse."

Pansy smiled.

"Right, darling. Say hi to Hermione for us, will you?" She too, rose from her seat and kissed Draco's both cheeks. Pureblood traditions were not to be bent even if this was just a mellow chill out.

Blaise and Draco hugged goodbye, making sure to clap each other hard twice on the other's back to emphasise the manliness of the hug.

"Right. Pansy, tell you parents I said hi. Blaise, tell you mum I miss her lamb chops. She'll know what it means." Draco grinned.

"That both you and Hermione are too lazy to cook and you wish for my mother to invite you over for dinner so you can have a decent meal?" Blaise asked, raising a disapproving eyebrow.

"Yeah, or at least bring me leftovers." Draco laughed and left the pub.

Even though the journey back to his flat was fairly short as all he had to do was to take a few steps out from the Leaky Cauldron, apparate and climb three flights of stairs Draco still felt sweat running down his back as he opened the door to the flat.

"Bloody heat wave." he muttered he kicked off his shoes and unbuttoned his shirt all before even making it past the kitchen.

The door to Hermione's room stood slightly ajar and as he passed the opening he felt a cool breeze coming from her room. He took a few steps back, peering into her room. Although the room was dark he could still see Hermione wasn't in there.

"You brilliant witch, you've put a chilling-breeze charm in you room, haven't you?" he smirked and continued his walk through the flat.

On the sofa in their sitting room he found Hermione draped in a blanket with a heavy book on her chest.

"Granger? Are you awake?" he whispered.

As Hermione's response was turning over, lying on her side and grunting something incoherent about 'silver-fanged bats' Draco came to the conclusion she was indeed asleep.

Smiling to himself he walked up to her and crouched down by the sofa.

"Granger, will you kill me if I wake you?" he whispered quietly.

When Hermione didn't respond but just continued sleeping Draco carefully lifted the book from her chest and put it down on the floor next to her. He turned to face her and watched her resting features. She looked so peaceful as the moonlight softly fell on her face. He observed the tiny freckles on the bridge of her nose. The light from the moon highlighting her cupid's bow. Her slightly heavier bottom lip. Her lips really were magnificent. The best lips Draco had ever seen. They could only be described as ample.

"So ample." he whispered quietly as his thumb gently brushed along her bottom lip.

He leaned a little closer to her. Hermione's lips parted slightly as she let out a small hum of content. He pulled a stray long behind her ear and softly brushed his knuckles along her cheek.

"What are you doing to me, woman?" he sighed. "What's going on in that bushy head of yours?"

At that moment Hermione's eyes flew open. Draco didn't even have a chance to blink before Hermione had reached for the wand on the coffee table and was pointing it at his throat.

"No! Don't hex me, Granger! It's me, Draco Malfoy. Your best friend and flatmate!" Draco squawked, leaning away from her and holding his hands up in surrender.

Blinking the sleep out of her eyes Hermione let out the most annoyed grunt Draco had ever heard.

"Bloody hell, Malfoy!" she roared, putting the wand back on the coffee table. "You ought to know better than to sneak up on me while I'm sleeping!"

"Yeah, yeah. Flashbacks from the war. I know." Draco waved his hand dismissively. "I learnt that the time you punched me in the throat when I was putting a blanket over you the time first you fell asleep on the sofa."

"One would think that would've been enough to teach you." Hermione shook her head and pulled the blanket to cover more of her. "What are you doing lurking around me when I'm sleeping, anyway? I'm _naked_." she added with a hiss.

"You are?" Draco asked and his eyes instantly landed on her chest covered up by the blanket.

His response was obviously a little too chirpy for Hermione's liking and she frowned slightly.

"Well, as good as. Bloody heat wave." she blushed slightly. "I didn't mean to fall asleep and I didn't realise you'd join me when you got home."

"Well, finding a beautiful naked woman in my flat certainty is my favourite thing to come home to." he smirked.

Hermione sighed but Draco saw her fighting off a smirk forming across her lips,

"You think I'm beautiful?"

With a satisfied smirk he brushed another stray lock behind her ear,

"You're the fairest of them all, Granger."

His hand lingered behind her ear and he gently let it glide down the side of her neck. Even though the room was dark Draco could still see a deep brush spread across her cheeks.

"I'm sorry I woke you." he whispered softly as he leaned in a little closer.

"That's alright." She ran her fingers down his arm. "I'm glad you're home."

She pulled his hand to her face and pressed a gentle kiss on his knuckles.

"Me, too." He nestled his nose into her neck and planted a soft kiss.

"Hmmm." Hermione sighed and hugged his arm closer to her chest.

Not wanting to push his luck with this vast progress he reluctantly pulled away from her,

"Well, I'm off to bed."

Hermione cleared her throat,

"Right. So will I. As soon as you leave the room."

"So, I just have to ask. Is being naked in our shared areas something you usually do when I'm not home? 'Cause that really drives me around the bend, you know." he tsked in mock-annoyance.

"Oh sod off, Malfoy!" she sneered, throwing a pillow at him.

"Right. I won't push it." He held his hands up in defence. "Good night, Granger."

He kissed her forehead before walking into his bedroom.

* * *

 **Right, lovelies! That's chapter eight.**

 **So there's a heat wave plaguing London… Hot weather really has a way of affecting us, hasn't it? Like showing some skin, obviously. Hot weather also usually makes us feel** _ **happy**_ **. Isn't that sort of what** _ **spring feeling**_ **mean? So, what will happen with our dear friends as the hot weather continues?**


	9. Chapter 9

It was half past two in the morning and Draco had been tossing and turning for the past hour or so, trying to find a comfortable position in the pressing heat. This heat wave was really something and it seemed it had no plans on pass anytime soon. What ever happened to England being the rainiest place on Earth? Merlin, Draco missed those dismal grey summers from his childhood.

Well, no point in throwing a fit in his bed over the heat. He clearly wasn't going back to sleep any time soon. With more force than necessary he tossed the blanket off of him. Not bothering putting on more clothes than the boxer briefs he was already wearing he walked out to the kitchen to have a nice glass of ice-cold water. With the glass of water in one hand he made his way through the flat and opened the door to the balcony. As he stepped put into the slightly cooler night air he let out a deep sigh.

"Sleep eludes you too, eh?"

Godsmacked, he turned around. He hadn't expected to find Hermione up and out on the balcony at this hour. And _certainly_ not wearing a silk dress robe that was open enough for him to see she was only wearing a bra and – did he dare say - a pair of forest green, lace knickers underneath. Well, the knickers were hard to tell as Hermione was sitting in a cane armchair. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun with her fringe hanging down the sides, framing her face.

"Yeah." He sat down in the armchair next to her. "I know it's considered a sin complaining about _too_ hot weather in England but I can't fucking sleep."

"Yeah, me neither. So I took a cold shower and went out here to air-dry." Hermione said as she put her feet up on the small coffee table in front of their chairs.

"Too bad, I was hoping a bra and knickers was just what you were wearing now." he smirked.

"It's this bloody heat wave." she frowned. "I don't even like being naked all that much."

" _I Don't Even Like Being Naked All that Much_ , Granger if you ever made a sex tape that's what it'd be called." he arched a suggestive eyebrow at her.

Hermione just rolled her eyes at him. "No, my sex tape would obviously be called _Double the Entender, Double the Fun._ "

"My my, you've really thought about this, haven't you? Would I co-star in it?" he smirked.

Hermione answered by raising a mischief eyebrow at him but then turned her attention back to the street.

Draco sighed. This was usually how it went; less clothing and conversations full of sexual innuendos. And then Draco would cross the line, which he still wasn't sure where it was by the way, and Hermione would regress. Eventually the whole procedure would start over. Safe to say he was getting sick of this.

"Granger, can I ask you something?" he said as he placed his glass of water down next to her feet.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" she asked as she continued looking out over the rooftops.

"Are things weird between us?"

Hermione took a sip of his water before she answered, "Umm, I guess they are. A little."

 _At least we can admit it's weird, good start,_ he thought, "I don't want things to be weird. Why do you think it's weird in the first place?"

"Well, I just dumped Oliver since he made me chose between him and you?" Hermione offered.

Draco leaned back in the armchair, his head resting against the backrest, "That really had nothing to do with _us_ though, did it?"

It seemed she made an effort not to look at him and kept her eyes fixed upon a bus driving by down on the street,

"How do you mean?"

"Let's be honest." Draco said turning to face her. "I told you I'm in love with you. You _do_ feel something for me, but you won't tell me what it is. Do you want to know what I think?"

Hermione nodded.

"I think this has nothing to do with Captain Quidditch at all. I think you're in love with me as well, but you're scared to let me know that."

"That's silly. I could just tell you that if that was the case. It's just I don't know what I feel." Hermione said, digging some dirt away from under her nails.

"I don't think that's true. I think you're scared because you don't know what will happen when you do tell me. You don't know how the story will end, so to speak. You can't read the end first in this one." Draco said.

Hermione took her eyes off her nails and looked at him and then sighed deeply. Almost a sigh of surrender.

"I think you actually might be right."

"You're supposed to be the brightest witch of our age! How can you not have figured this out yet?" he asked, annoyed. "You're a bit dim sometimes, you know that? Especially when it comes to other people being in love with you."

She sniffed, annoyed,

"Prat."

"Never mind, though. We've reached the conclusion we're both in love with each other. How do we make this not weird?" Draco asked calmly.

"Are you suggesting we should… do something… _romantic_ together?" Hermione asked, looking as if though Draco had suggested they'd rob Gringotts, or something along those lines.

Draco sighed patiently, "Well good, Granger. Doing romantic things together _is_ what people who fancy each other usually do."

Hermione roller her eyes at him, but Draco continued as if he hadn't noticed,

"If we do, however, I have a sneaky suspicion things might still be weird. Any suggestions on how to avoid that?"

"Oh!" It seemed a light had turned on in Hermione's eyes. "A comprehensive set of rules!"

"How am I attracted to you?" Draco wondered out loud and Hermione looked a little snubbed. "No, now is not the time to ponder upon that. What do you suggest these rules entail?"

"Alright, first let's not tell anyone. Let's figure out how to be _us_ before involving anyone else." Hermione suggested.

"Right, I guess it could be sort of fun sneaking around with you." Draco smirked.

"Second, let's not put labels on it. We can keep it casual, right? No pressure." she suggested.

"Oh, I like that. Makes it even harder to accidentally tell others what we're up to." Draco agreed.

"How does one _accidentally_ tell someone something like that?" Hermione frowned.

"Happens more often than you'd think." Draco shrugged, thinking about how he _accidentally_ had let it slip to Captain Quidditch when he was looking for Hermione she could be found in his bed. "Anything else?"

"Right. Third and final rule; let's not have sex right away." Hermione said.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…" Draco cringed. "Is that one _really_ necessary?"

"Absolutely. We wouldn't want to rush things. Right?" she said firmly.

"Right. Right, right, right, right. Right-eo. You got it, girlfriend." As the last word slipped from his lips both Hermione and him stared at each other for a second. "Not like _girlfriend_ girlfriend, obviously _._ I meant it like my friend who happens to be a girl."

"Right! 'Coruse!" Hermione said.

"Wouldn't want to be breaking the 'no-label-rule'. Merlin forbids." he said.

"Are you okay with the rules?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"'Course. For all intents and purposes all I really need to know is that I want to be with you, Granger. And that you want to be with me. If these rules makes you feel better about it then I'm all in." He brushed a stray lock away from her face.

"Thank you, Malfoy. I really do want to be with you. It's just…" she paused for a second. "Honestly I'm just a bit scared."

"Of what? Scared that I'll get bored with you in three weeks and break your heart due to my track record from previous relationships and immature personality? Yeah, that adds up. You're probably right to be scared." He ran his hand through his hair giving Hermione an apologetic grin. Well, as close to apologetic as he could manage, anyway.

"Just promise me you won't be all _Malfoy_ about this?" There was a distinct sense of pleading to her voice.

He held his hand across his heart,

"Promise."

He then smirked. "You know, if I ever did hurt you I wouldn't even live to regret it. My mother would probably kill me and father would be very happy to assist. I swear, they actually like you better than me."

Hermione gave him a small smile,

"And rightly so. You're the worst and I'm just bloody brilliant."

Draco chuckled.

"Promise me something else?" she asked.

"Anything."

She bit her bottom lip,

"If there's ever, well, friction between us… Promise you'll talk to me about it? And if you ever sense something's bothering me but I'm not telling you, will you please drag it out of me if you so must? Like you did tonight?"

Draco watched her for a moment,

"Granger, you, better than anyone else, know I'm a coward. You know I don't like doing hard or uncomfortable things. I can't make that promise. I'm sorry."

Disappointment clearly show on Hermione's face as the looked up at the night sky.

"But I can promise you that when I want something I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to get it. Even if it means doing hard or uncomfortable things." He graced her cheek with his hand. "And I want you, more than anything else I've ever wanted."

That answer seemed to satisfy Hermione and she gave him a thankful smile,

"And I'll promise I'll work on expressing myself better. I'm usually quite god at expressing myself but not about these sorts of things."

"I know. I remember a certain someone using the Oppugno Jinx on Weasley when he was snogging Lavender Brown all over the school instead of telling him _she_ fancied him." Draco said, giving Hermione a meaningful look.

Hermione blushed slightly,

"That's exactly what I mean. Don't let me do that to you."

"I'll try. But you're really stubborn some times."

"Good thing you're just as stubborn, then." She turned to sit side-ways in the chair and put her feet in his lap. Automatically he started kneading her feet.

"You know, I actually do have something in mind. Something I was going to ask you anyway since I can't stand being in the city during this wretched heat. But now it seems like a fit first date." he said as he graced her leg gently.

"Mmmhm. What it is?" Hermione wondered, as she closed her eyes loving his gentle touch.

"Come to Croatia with me." he whispered softly. "To the family house by the coast."

"What, now? Just like that? I have a job, Malfoy. I can't just take off and go to bloody Croatia." She laughed at his ridiculous suggestion and the intimate moment was broken.

"Oh come off it, Granger. There's no harm in skiving off work for a couple of days." he shrugged.

"I don't run my own company, I can't just _not_ come to work." she argued.

"If they fire you I'll hire you." Now a light turned in Draco's eyes. "Oh, I can hire you as my sexy assistant. You can wear those tight Muggle-skirts that hug your bum just right. And you could call me Mr Malfoy. Or better yet, you could call me _Sir._ "

"Malfoy, you'll never be my boss. If anything, I'll be the one being _your_ boss." Hermione rolled her eyes, but then smirked at him. "But for future references I'll keep in mind you'd like me to call you Mr. Malfoy, _Sir_."

Draco closed his eyes and groaned. Her emphasis on _Sir_ seemed to have awakened a beast in his chest. Apparently the beast in his chest wasn't the only thing that had awoken, something Hermione clearly had noticed. She gently graced her foot over the part of him covered by the boxer briefs and she winked at him.

"Oh, keep it in your pants, Mr Malfoy." she arched an eyebrow at him.

Between Hermione wearing her hair up in a bun, the comprehensive set of rules and being called Mr Malfoy it suddenly felt a lot like he was having a fling with a teacher. Something that seemed to turned him on even more, how that was ever possible.

" _How_ am I attracted to this?" he groaned, frustrated – for more than one reason. "Come on, Granger. Pack your things while I go and take a cold shower. We're taking the portkey in an hour."

"You just have one of those ready to go, then? Ready to take us to Croatia?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, absolutely. Never know when they can come in handy. Got the idea from Voldemort during the Triwizard Tournament, actually." Draco shrugged.

"But my work…" Hermione begun but Draco cut her off,

"Granger, you've never even been a minute late for anything and neither have you called in sick once. Tomorrow is Friday, just owl your boss and tell her you won't be coming in tomorrow. Then it's the weekend and Bob's you uncle, I'll have you spick-and-span back in London by Monday morning ready for work again."

Hermione chewed her bottom lip, considering his suggestion.

"So, we'll just go to Croatia, then? No planning? Just go?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Perks of being a wizard." Draco shrugged.

"No, this isn't something _wizards_ just do." she said.

"Right, perks of being a Malfoy, then." he smirked. "And being involved romantic-styles with one." he added with a wink.

"But you've never just went off to Croatia with anyone else before." she said, scanning his face.

"Seriously?" Frustrated he threw his hands up in the air. "Am I going to have to convince you to come to Croatia with me on a date? You're so stubborn it's actually astonishing and I can't even be mad at you!"

Hermione smiled at him,

"It's just… Going away to another country for the weekend isn't commonly what most people do on a first date."

A satisfied smirk spread across his lips,

"Yeah, well, I'm not _most people,_ darling _._ And I don't do _commonly_. So pack your bags, Granger." He rose from the chair. "And oh, don't pack any bathing suits. I know I won't since I'm _aching_ to go skinny dipping."

Hermione gaped at him,

"But the rules-"

"But rules are made to be broken." he waved her off dismissively.

Hermione shook her head disapprovingly,

"That's not true. At all. Quite the contrary actually; rules are made to be _followed_."

"Whatever. The rules didn't mention 'no full frontal nudity'." he smirked and left for the cold shower, leaving Hermione sporting a deep, involuntary, blush out on the balcony.

...

With the help of magic packing was over and done within less than an hour, which meant that Draco and Hermione arrived at the Malfoy house by the coast of Croatia at five o'clock in the morning, local time. As they walked along the pebble stones path leading up the white stone house the heavy oak doors flew opened and a small house-elf appeared.

"Young Master Malfoy! What a pleasant surprise!" the small house-elf hurried down the steps to greet them. "Young Master should have told us you were coming! Now we haven't gotten any rooms ready."

"That's quite alright, Malky. I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up, but I'm sure you'll be able to get a room presentable soon enough. We are in no hurry." Draco turned and gave Hermione a devilish grin. "We're going swimming first."

Hermione's cheeks turned scarlet.

"How rude of me not to introduce you." Draco put a hand to his forehead. "Malky, this is Ms Granger and she'll be staying here with me for the weekend. Granger, this is Malky. He's the Head House-elf here."

Hermione crouched down and reached out her hand for Malky to shake,

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Malky." she smiled.

Malky looked from Hermione to Draco in awe before he slowly put his small hand in Hermione's.

"Mr…" Malky whispered. "Malky has never been called _Mr_ before."

As if realising he was saying this out loud he shook his head.

"I mean: pleasure is all mine Ms Granger." the small house-elf smiled brightly at Hermione.

"Please, call me Hermione." she smiled.

"Ms Hermione." Malky's tennis ball-sized eyes seemed to practically sparkle. "Should Malky prepare one or two rooms for the gentry?"

"One will be quite enough. Won't it, Granger?" Draco turned to Hermione for confirmation.

It seemed another blush started to creep up her cheeks, but nevertheless she gave Draco a sly smile and said,

"Yes, one room will do just fine."

Draco's eyebrows twitched in both surprise and thrill and Malky got in a hurry to return back to the house.

Once left alone in front of the house Draco turned towards Hermione and wrapped his arms around her waist,

"So, Granger."

Hermione let her hands glide through Draco's hair before she placed her arms around his neck,

"So, Malfoy."

He leaned in towards her and whispered huskily, his breath tickling her neck and sending shivers down her spine,

"You up for a little midnight swim?"

"Lead the way, Mr Malfoy."

* * *

 **A little change of scenery often helps one to step out of one's comfort zone, don't you think?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Honestly, I'm not too sure about this chapter. I don't know if it really works the way I hope it will, so I'd very much appreciate feedback from you.**

 **Anyway, here it is. And oh, just a fair warning. Sexy-times ahead… Sort of.**

* * *

Even though the sun was nowhere near reaching over the hills the air was still quite warm. They'd made their way onto the private beach connected to the Malfoy estate and were now sitting on the jetty. To Draco's great disappointment Hermione had brought a swimsuit.

Wicked witch.

Out of fear, possibly, that Draco had stayed true to his words and not brought any swim shorts she'd packed a pair for him. That's why he was now sporting a pair of orange swim shorts that matched his pale complexion horribly. The things you do for love, right?

Honestly, Draco was a bit impressed with all of things Hermione was able fit into her small beaded handbag and he strongly suspected she'd placed an undetectable extension charm on it. Swim clothes wasn't the only thing in there. The second they'd changed into appropriate clothing and sat down at the very edge of the jetty Hermione had pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses from the bag.

"Were you scared the wine supply would be short where we were heading?" Draco smirked and sipped on the red Zinfandel.

"I'm never one to take chances." She dipped her feet into the water. "Oh, it's warm. I thought it would be much colder."

"Care for a swim?" He put the glass down and hoisted himself down from the jetty into the dark water.

He took a few strokes out and then turned around to swim back. Hermione was watching him with a rather sceptical look on her face.

"How deep is it?" she asked when he casually rested his upper body on top of the jetty.

"Why? Don't know how to swim?" Draco smirked.

Hermione answered by splashing water in his face.

"Oh, being a bit cheeky, are we?" He pushed himself up far enough to wrap his arms around her hips, pulling her towards the edge of the jetty.

"No, Malfoy! Don't you dare!" she shrieked, clawing at his arms and shoulders.

Draco stopped pulling her towards the water, but his grip around her hips still remained firm.

"What's the matter, Granger? Why don't you want to join me, half naked, in this lovely water with the moonlight shining down upon us? Afraid you'll get… wet?" he smirked.

Rolling her eyes at him she hissed,

"Stupid ferret-faced git with all the puns."

"Ahem, I think you mean stupid _gorgeous_ ferret-faced git with all the _sexy_ puns." He licked his upper lip slowly as he slowly ran his left hand down her thigh.

"No, you moron." Hermione spat, but she blushed a little all the same.

Merlin's beard how he enjoyed seeing that colour on her cheeks. Fuck Quidditch. Making Hermione blush was certainly his new favourite sport.

Hermione squirmed a little in his arms,

"I just don't like dark water where I can't se the bottom, that's all."

"You really are an insufferable control freak, did I ever tell you that?" Draco said, but at the same time he couldn't help but smile. Not smirk, but actually smile. "The water is not that deep. See?"

He released his grip around her hips, put his feet down and stood up. The water reached just under his pecs.

"What's the bottom like? Sand? Rock?" She cringed. "A lot of seaweed?"

"Sand. But I'll tell you what, you don't have to set foot on it unless you want to." He walked closer to her and reached out his arms. "You can cling to me the entire time. That way the sea monster living at the bottom will eat me first."

Hermione shot him an angry glare,

"I know you're taking the piss out of me, but I _do_ hope the sea monster eats you first!"

"Naturally." He rolled his eyes. "Come on then, Granger. There you go."

Hermione edged closer to him and he took a steady grip around her waist, slowly lifting her into the water. With her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her legs hugging his midriff Hermione finally let out a breath she seemed to have been holding as Draco took a few steps back from the jetty.

"Well done, Granger! You can open your eyes now. You made it." Draco mocked.

She loosened her grip around his neck slightly and leaned back, opening her eyes,

"Stop being such a knob head."

"I am a knob head, you knew that, Granger." He supported the small of her back with his right hand as he let the left travel up her back. "But now I'm your knob head."

"Is that a label I'm hearing?" she smirked at him.

Draco chuckled softly.

"So, as long as we're on the subject of labels. Just out of curiosity; if, let's say, Weaslett asked about us what would you tell her?" His hand travelled to rest at her upper back where he stopped to draw small circles. "Other than me being your knob head, of course."

"Easy. I'd tell her I'm single and you're my man." Hermione shrugged.

As standing still in the water chilled him a bit Draco started slowly moving around, Hermione still in a koala-like grip around him.

"But you've been saying that for years. I've heard you say that at the bar to numerous lads on the pull."

And it was true. Not that Draco would have ever admitted it at the time but hearing Hermione refer to him as _her man_ really worked for him. And to see the looks on the lads' faces when they realised Hermione was referring to _him_ , well, that was just priceless. Draco knew he didn't have the most visibly muscle mass, but he knew that he was really fit. In fact, he was _well_ aware of that fact. And he also knew how just a simple glare from him could affect even the buffest steroid-inflated wanker trying to hit on _his_ Granger. And he absolutely loved it.

Hermione flashed him a grin,

"I know. I also happen to know you rather like it when I refer to you as _my man_."

He'd reached the more shallow parts of the water and was now squatting down so that Hermione was more or less sitting on his lap.

He shifted her weight slightly in his arms he said,

"Yes, I'm not going to lie. That does turn my on a little bit, yeah."

Hermione let out a small giggle and swayed her hips slightly,

"Oh, I can tell."

Draco let out a small growl of frustration,

"Well, I just like to tell people you're my intolerable tease of a flatmate who won't let me shag her."

She smiled as she caressed his cheek with her hand,

"All good things, love. All good things."

"Good things, eh?" He couldn't help but smirk. "Tell me more about those _good things_."

Hermione gawked at him,

"What? Now? _Here_?"

"Why not?" Draco shrugged. "I know almost everything there's to know about you, Granger. I know everything from your favourite brand of pasta to the fact that you sing in the shower for up to three days after you've gotten approval from a workplace superior. But I haven't got a clue of what shagging you is like. And I want to know. Tell me what's yet to come." He let his hand travel further down her spine as he breathed into her ear, "Let me have a sneak-peak."

In his tight embrace Draco could feel Hermione quiver. From fear or lust? Well, anyone guess, really.

"Um…" Hermione shifted her weight slightly and bit her bottom lip. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know everything. What your lips taste like. If you scream or moan. What your tongue feels like. What your lips wrapped around my cock is like. Would you gently drag your teeth along my shaft or would you use your tongue? What noises would you make as I would trail kisses along your inner thigh? If I bit your neck, would you punch me in my face or would that make heat pool between your legs? Are you in to some kinky and wired shit? Oh, I really hope you are!" He smirked devilishly at her. "But I only want you to tell me what you're comfortable with."

Almost undetected, as they were too consumed by each other, they'd now reached the shoreline and Draco was sitting down in the sand, Hermione with her legs still wrapped around his midriff. Draco let the grip around her waist loosen and let his hands travel down her hip and thighs. He searched her eyes.

"Tell me what turns you on, love." he whispered, holding her gaze.

"Um…" Yet another blush tinted her cheeks. "This?" she whispered.

"Good." he smirked. "What is it about this you like, love? The skin contact? The tone of my voice? The eye contact?"

She closed her eyes taking in a deep breath,

"All of it. And that you call me _love_. I very much prefer that to you calling me Granger."

Draco tsked while a smirk formed across his lips,

"Oh, but I'd never call you Granger while being inside you, love. As I would push you closer to the edge I'd only murmur _Hermione_. Repeatedly."

"Oh!" The moan escaped her involuntarily and she covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.

"Well I certainly know one more thing about you now." Draco smirked.

"What?" Hermione almost snapped at him.

"I now know you're not all that comfortable with dirty talk." He brushed her hair behind her shoulders, exposing her neckline. "But let me tell you something, I fucking love hearing you tell me. Go on, love. You like it intimate. Is that all the time?"

Hermione shifted uncomfortably again and mumbled,

"No. Not always."

He leaned in, his lips almost touching her neck and tickling it with his breath,

"How do you like it then? Hard and fast?"

Hermione let out a breathless, "Oh, fuck."

"Yesss." he hissed rasping his teeth gently against the skin of her neck. "I love it when you say _fuck._ "

Tilting her head back Hermione almost moaned,

"Sometimes I do like it hard. But not with anyone. Only with someone who can take command."

She raised her head back up again and looked him deep in the eyes,

"With the right person, I like to _not_ be in control. I love being bossed around and just… _take it_."

The emphasis on the last two words could have been enough to make him exploded right then and there. Honestly, stranger things _had_ happened. And truth be told he had to summon all his willpower not to tare their clothes of and make just _that_ happen.

"What are you doing to me, woman?" he growled, his hand flying up into her hair and gripping it, pulling her forehead against his own. "How can you be _this_ wonderful?"

Hermione gave him a very Malfoyish smirk as she gently pushed his chest telling him to lie down in the sand. It was then Draco realised he might actually not survive the night. Hermione straddled him, bent down and all but moaned into his ear,

"Tell me, _Draco_. What is it that _you_ desire?"

He swallowed hard and croaked throatily,

"Right now? This."

He cupped her face with both his hands, pulling her into an almost-kiss. With their lips just about to touch he whispered,

"I'd like you to ride me just like this. Slow at first, never breaking eye contact so I could watch your eyes darken more with lust with every thrust."

Biting her bottom lip, Hermione let out a breathy moan.

"And then as the knot in your lower abdomen begins to tighten you'd sit up straight, just like this." Letting go of her face his hands traveled down her shoulders gently pushing her to sit upright.

Her knees tightened along his sides as she held them together for support. Letting his hands glide down her ribs and waist they finally landed on her hips and he slowly started rocking them,

"As I'd reach deeper inside you I'd hope to hear a moan escape those slightly parted lips of yours." He ran his palm over her stomach and up between her breasts. "Would you moan for me then, Hermione?"

Closing her eyes she breathed deeply,

"Yes."

Sill rocking her hips slowly, Hermione leaned back and rested her hands on his legs behind her for support.

"You read my thoughts, love. Of course I'd want access to stimulate that bundle of nerves you'd just exposed to me." His hand glided back down between her breasts, down her stomach and finally landed on her lower abdomen and a deep sigh escaped his lips.

"I'd probably lick my thumb to make sure it'd glide frictionlessly over your clit. But I'd doubt that'd be necessary, wouldn't it, love?" He rubbed his palm over her lower stomach in smooth circular motions. "'Cause your juices would already be flowing."

Closing her eyes Hermione let out a gasp.

"And I would smell your arousal. I don't dare venture a guess of what it'd smell like, but I know it'd be absolutely intoxicating. I'd take a deep breath and as your smell would fill my nostrils it'd no doubt drive me wild. I'd probably have to control myself not to erupt but I'd have to do something, wouldn't I? This just wouldn't seem enough."

Gripping his hands around her hips Draco started rocking his hips as well, making Hermione let out a small moan.

"I'd meet your rocking hips every time with my thrusts and that'd push you close, love. So close. I'd be right there with you, of course. I'd feel how you'd hug me, as if trying to squeeze me dry. And when you'd do that I'd go even deeper and that'd send you tumbling over the edge." With the firm grip around her hips he pulled her down even more flush to him. "And when you fall into the ecstasy, what would you scream?"

With her eyes closed Hermione drew a sharp breath and whispered,

" _Draco_."

A smug smirk spread across his lips and he gently brushed his knuckles against her cheek,

"That's right, love. And hearing my own name rolling from your lips would send me over the edge as well. And as I'd follow you into ecstasy only one thing would be on my mind. _Hermione_."

Slowly Hermione stopped rocking her hips and opened her eyes, looking at him with a lust-filled gaze through half-hooded eyelids.

"Would you like that, love?" Draco asked rubbing the small of her back.

"Oh god, _yes_!" She moaned.

His right hand gently graced her arm,

"I'd very much like that too. I can already tell I'll _love_ shagging you. And I know you'll come for me every time."

"Yeah? How can you know that?" She asked arching an eyebrow at him.

"Because you're relaxed. You've always been comfortable with us touching and every time we do you relax into me and that's how I know you'll come. And probably fast, too." Another smirks formed on his lips. "And that means I'd make you come over and over again until you're _shaking_."

Hermione dragged her nails along his chest,

"Quite cocky, aren't you, Mr Malfoy."

Draco was just about to respond, and it would no doubt have been something that'd made Hermione blush deeply, when Malky apparated onto the beach with a loud crack.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Young Master and Ms Hermione, but Malky though you'd like to know your room is ready if you wish to get some shut-eye." The small house-elf said, making sure to make a statement of averting his eyes.

Without taking his eyes off Hermione Draco said,

"Thank you, Malky. And you can wait with breakfast tomorrow as I'm sure Ms Granger and I will be sleeping in. In fact, don't expect us up until brunch."

Malky seemed to blush slightly before snapping his fingers disapparating back into the house.

"You ready to go back inside?" Draco asked, massaging her thighs slowly.

Hermione nodded and swung her leg over him to kneel on the sand,

"Yeah, a nice comfy bed would be really good now."

Draco stood up and offered her his hand,

"Yeah, but not before I've had a long nice shower."

Hermione grabbed his hand and he pulled her up,

"A cold one, perhaps?" she mused.

"Honesty, if this cold water didn't help a cold shower won't either. I'll just embrace it." He observed the scratch marks on his arms and shoulders from when he'd tried to pull Hermione into the water. "I'll probably just fantasise about another way you could've given me those marks and that'll take care of it."

A deep scarlet spread across Hermione's cheeks and Draco smirked as they walked back up to the house, hand in hand.

* * *

 **Right, guys! So, my goal for this chapter was for it to be hot-as-hell without anything actually** _ **happening**_ **between them. Fine line to balance, I'll tell you. Did I pull that off? What worked and what didn't work, and _why_? I'd be so thankful if you took your time to let me know. Doesn't have to be long.**

 **Please, be brutally honest with me about what you though of this chapter. All criticism is much welcome, both good and bad as long as it's constructive so I can improve! And oh, if you don't want/like/feel comfortable letting me know your thoughts in the reviews please send me a DM because I still want to hear your thoughts! :) Thank you!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Before getting on with the story I'd like to address something that was pointed out to me; I've failed to mention references. That's absolutely true (there are** _ **a lot**_ **), and there's a very simple reason for that, namely I didn't want to. The reason for that is that for me, personally, when I read I don't like to know where references come from because I feel like that clouds my judgement. If I get it then I do and I'll be happy I recognised it and it feels like a found an Easter egg. If I don't then it doesn't matter. However, I realise not everyone feels that way and I'm absolutely all for credit is given where credit is due and this has made me reconsider. But I'll hold off on mentioning the references until the end. Let's see how many others you can spot? :)**

* * *

Truth be told Draco _had_ planned on finding out if he could persuade Hermione to break a rule once back in the house. He really did. But as soon as he'd stepped into the shower he had, rather unceremoniously actually, relieved his tension. He barely even needed to touch it, as a matter of fact. Thinking of the poor house-elf who'd clean the shower afterwards, even if he did tried his best to clean himself from the walls (yes, plural), he still felt a bit remorseful. So, between that and the chilling-breeze charm brilliantly cast on the room Draco was asleep before his head even landed on the pillow. Not even Hermione slipping into the bed with him some 10 minutes later woke him.

Nevertheless, today was a new day with new possibilities of breaking rules and right now Draco and Hermione were having brunch at the terrace with the ocean view. A brunch that up until now had been filled of sexual innuendoes, as was the costume now.

First Draco had asked Hermione how she'd like her eggs, to which Hermione had replied,

"Fertilized."

Draco had answered by letting out a frustrated growl and wonder how that was _ever_ going to happen if she continued to refuse to shag him.

Draco had then proceeded to make all sort of hole-related puns about the bagels, to which Hermione had just rolled her eyes and informed him that wasn't very creative.

"Pass me the sausages, will you, Malfoy?" Hermione asked as she scanned the Witch Weekly, which had been delivered last night.

"You mean this one?" Draco looked innocently down at his crotch. "I'm afraid you'll have to come and get it, Granger."

Hermione looked up from the paper and arched an eyebrow at him,

"You mean you wouldn't mind if I _took a bite_?"

Draco tsked and tilted his head slightly,

"My dear Granger, haven't I made it perfectly clear you can have a nibble at any part of my body whenever you feel peckish."

Rolling her eyes at him Hermione turned her attention back to Witch Weekly. Draco, in turn, turned his attention back to his coffee. That was until Hermione let out a small yelp which nearly made Draco choke on it.

"What? Is something wrong?" he coughed, trying to undo swallowing the wrong way.

Ignoring him, Hermione continued to scan the page,

"Oh, I can't believe this! So tasteless."

"Come on, let me see." Draco snatched the paper out of her hand.

"Oi! Wait 'til your turn!" Hermione protested, frowning at him.

"Yeah, well I'm paying for it. The day you subscribe you'll get first pick." He then raised a very suggestive eyebrow at her. "As it happens, I do have an alternative suggestion of payment we could arrange. Good thing I'll accept _alternative_ payment."

"If you say sex I'll punch you. You know I will, Malfoy." Hermione glared at him.

"Fine. Have it your way then." he quipped, turning to read the page Hermione had been reading up until he snatched the paper out of her hand.

The page showed a listing of England's Top Ten Eligible Bachelors.

"Oh how tactless. Objectifying gullible wizards as if all there is to them are their bodies." Draco rolled his eyes. "I'll bet Romilda Vane is the author. Oh look, I was right. Honestly, who reads this rubbish? It's so utterly unsubstantial!"

Quickly scanning the paper he did a double take at the middle of the page.

"Oh, would you look at that! _I'm_ England's Top Eligible Bachelors number five!" he looked up at Hermione, a smug smile on his face. Much too smug.

Hermione gave him a sly smile,

"Really?"

"Yeah, listen to this." Draco read from the paper. "Draco Malfoy recently took over Malfoy Inc and safe to say the young hunk has been making some well needed changes. Between (what we only can assume are) mind-numbing meetings the young Malfoy still makes sure to be seen at all the right social soirées. We here at _Whitch Weekly_ really say keep an eye on this up and coming bachelor. We certainly will!" Looking up from the paper Draco rolled his eyes in mock-blushing. " _Up and coming_? Oh, they shouldn't have!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at his ego-boost.

"And look, Granger! They've even got my picture in here. The one from last years Ministry Christmas party. Remember? Oh, it looks like they managed to crop you out of it. Too bad, you looked rather dashing in that silver dress with the deep neckline." He smiled smugly.

Hermione arched an eyebrow at him,

"Yeah? Did you see who's number three yet?"

Not loving how taunting she sounded Draco continued reading the page.

"No way!" he bellowed.

"You found number three, then?" she smirked.

"How can they rank Captain sodding Quidditch higher than me?" Draco spat out, utterly outraged.

"Does it matter? A minute ago this was _tactless rubbish objectifying gullible wizards_." Hermione teased. "Although it didn't seem that way when you saw yourself in there."

"Oh, get a grip, Granger!" Draco sneered. "Why is _he_ more eligible than _me_?"

"Oh, beats me." Hermione shrugged, sipping on her tea casually.

"It's his abnormally large penis, isn't it?" he looked at Hermione for confirmation.

Hermione merely rolled her eyes and shook her head at his childish fit.

"Doesn't matter how big it is. He's malfunctioning horribly. _That's_ what matters." Draco said, more to himself than to Hermione.

"Are you done being a jealous git now? Can we drop this tasteless article?" she asked.

"Right, fine. Let's drop it. Romilda Vane hasn't got a clue and I'll be suing her." he said, firmly. "So, what do you want to do today? Have a butchers at the beach in daylight or stroll around the city for a while before we have naked-dinner and you can confirm my penis is much better in any way, shape and form than Captain Quidditch's?"

Pinching the bridge of her nose Hermione sighed,

"Malfoy, I'm _not_ having naked-dinner with you just so you can have me comparing your penises!"

"Of course I don't want to have naked-dinner with you _just_ so you can compare penises!" He moved his chair closer to hers, draped an arm around her backrest, leaned in and mumbled into her ear,

"I want to have naked-dinner with you because it would be hot as fuck. I'd be able to fully worship your wonderful shapes and perhaps even have a _taste_. For dessert."

Giving him a cunning smile Hermione leaned in and whispered in his ear,

"Malfoy." Her breath tickled his ear and sent wonderful shivers down his spine. "We're not having naked-dinner. We don't want to have accidental-sex, do we?"

Leaning back Draco grunted.

"Fine. But you never want to do anything I want."

Hermione giggled a little,

"You do live such a horrid life, Malfoy. You're only on a bloody weekend-trip at your bloody manor in Croatia with your hot flatmate."

"Fair point." he grunted. "A stroll in the city then?"

"Sounds lovely." she smiled.

^v^

They side-along-apparated into the city where they strolled around for a while looking at the small tourist shops along the boardwalk. Hermione bought a ridiculously large sunhat and Draco bought a pair of nicer-looking swim shorts that weren't as horrendous as the orange pair Hermione had packed for him. After that they bought ice-cream and went down to sit in the sand at the beach. The sound of the waves gently crashing and the warm sand between their toes made for the perfect scenery.

"Wanna taste?" Draco offered his peach sorbet to Hermione.

She licked his ice-cream with much more tongue than necessary and Draco instantly regretted his decision to get her such a seductive treat.

"Mmmmhm! So good." Hermione said when she was done licking. "Wanna taste mine?"

Draco took a nibble of her plain vanilla,

"Mmmhm. Not bad."

"Hang on, you got a little something there." Hermione brushed the ice-cream away from the corner of his mouth with her finger, which she then sucked clean.

"Next time, perhaps you'd considered using your mouth to clean me?" Draco raised a suggestive eyebrow at her.

She nudged him playfully and smirked,

"I'll keep that in mind."

Draco was just about to wrap his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer when a voice to their left interrupted him.

"Hermione? Malfoy? Is that you?"

Draco stopped mid-motion and in a miserable attempt to disguise the affections gesture he scratched the back of his head. Both him and Hermione turned, only to find the owner of the voice to be Ginny.

"Ginny?" Hermione asked as she spotted her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Harry and I are here to watch Puddlemere United play tonight. We took a port-key just this morning." Ginny grinned.

"Harry is here too? And the Puddlemere is playing here? Tomorrow?" Hermione asked, and Draco could hear the beginning of a panic in her voice.

Just then Harry joined them, handing a watermelon smoothie to Ginny.

"Fancy seeing the two of you here!" Harry grinned at Draco and Hermione.

"Yeah, well. Small world and all that." Draco mumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, Oliver got us tickets to the game. Sky box, fairly decent." Ginny grinned. "What are you two doing here, anyway, if you're not here to watch your ex play Quidditch?"

"Ummmmm… " Hermione blushed, but didn't seem able to come up with a reasonable response.

Rolling his eyes slightly at the complete inability for Gryffindors to lie Draco said airily:

"Oh, we decided to skive off for the weekend. No hard plans. Just stroll around the city, read a good book, drink a lot of wine. You know, that sort of thing."

"Oh, that's sounds lovely! Great idea to escape the city in this dreadful heat." Harry nodded. "Hey, if you free tonight, why don't you have dinner with Ginny and me?"

"Absolutely not." Draco snorted.

Hermione shot him a lethal glare.

"So… You do have hard plans, then?" Ginny narrowed her eyes at the pair still sitting in the sand.

Draco shrugged,

"Not necessarily. I just don't feel like it."

"Why? It's not like we're interrupting a date." Harry mocked.

"Um, yeah, you are." Draco retorted.

"You've got a date, Malfoy? Here in Croatia? With whom?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, with whom, Malfoy?" Hermione leered at him.

"Oh, wind your neck in and stop being so nosy, won't you?" Draco snapped.

"Alright… So Malfoy's got a mysterious date. How about you, Hermione? Dinner?" Ginny turned to her friend.

"Oh, I'd love to, but unfortunately I've got to work. Too bad, or else I'd love to!" Hermione said and quickly turned her attention back to her ice-cream.

Ginny and Harry exchanged meaningful looks.

"Right…" Harry said, running his hand through his hair. "If you're too busy for dinner, how about lunch?"

Looking at each other for a split second they knew they couldn't weasel out of lunch without being too suspicious.

"You know what?" Hermione said. "Lunch sounds great."

^v^

Lunch with Harry and Ginny took place on a seafood restaurant at the beach. It was a short lunch, as Draco made sure to be extra rude and keep conversations short. After lunch Harry and Ginny bid them good-bye to disappear to find a Wizards'-sports bar to have a pint or two before the game. Relieved to finally be alone again Draco and Hermione went for a stroll down the pier by the beach.

"So…" Draco said, now confident they were finally alone, and wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulder. "You really had no idea the Prune Heads United's were playing here tonight?"

Hermione turned to him in mild shock,

"No, of course not! How was I supposed to know?"

Draco chuckled,

"Come think of it, it's remarkable how little interest you have in Quidditch seeing as you seem so fond of Quidditch-players." he smirked.

"What ever do you mean?" Hermione blushed.

"Well, Weaslett is chaser for the Holyhead Harpies. And as for your romantic record; first there was Krum, then Weasley, then Captain Quidditch himself. And now there's me." he grinned.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him,

"Don't flatter yourself. You're not a Quidditch-player. Three of the people you mentioned actually made a career out of it. You used to play back at Hogwarts and now you occasionally play for fun with Blaise, Harry, Ginny and Ron."

"Yeah, but I've still got the body, though." he smirked.

"That, you do." she sighed.

They'd reached the end of the pier and stopped.

"So, Captain Quidditch seems to be in town." Draco arched an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, but what are the chances of us running into him?" Hermione waved him off.

"Yeah, I bet you're right. We probably won't." he agreed.

Hermione stopped, turned towards him and gave him a mischievous smile,

"Tell you what; if we _do_ run into him here I'll have naked-dinner with you."

Suddenly very interested in the conversation Draco turned towards her as well,

"Really?"

"On one condition." She gave him a strict look.

He took a step closer to her,

"Name it."

An ominous smirk suddenly draped her lips,

"No touching."

Draco let out a growl,

"You're a right tease, did you know?"

"Well, wouldn't want us to accidentally have sex and break a rule, now would we?" she smirked.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Granger." He then smirked and took yet another step closer to her so that she had to tilt her head up to look at him. "No matter, I'm confident I can simply converse you into begging me to break the no-touching _and_ no-sex rules."

She licked her upper lip slowly. Too slowly,

"Oh, you're on, _Mr_ _Malfoy_."

With his eyes fixed upon her tongue caressing her upper lip Draco said,

"I'd never though the day would come when I actually _hope_ to run into Captain Quidditch."

They hadn't even walked five meters back on the pier before a familiar auburn coloured head of hair and a squared face with very symmetrical strong jaws came into view browsing in one of the shops.

"How come all the people we know happens to be in bloody Croatia just now?" Draco sighed annoyed.

"Oh, Merlin's saggy left... I didn't think we'd see him _here_." Hermione grunted.

Unable to help himself, Draco smirked,

"Don't you ever get tired of being wrong?"

"Prat!" Hermione punched him on his bicep. "What should we do? Leg it?"

Oliver looked up and, unfortunately, seemed to recognise the pair as he smiled awkwardly and gave an insecure wave.

"Too late, he already saw us." Draco said. "Brace yourself, Granger. It's about to get uncomfortable."

"Oh fuck, he's coming over." Hermione said through gritted teeth as she forced a smile. "Oliver! Fancy running into you here!"

"Hermione! What a surprise!"

Both Hermione and Oliver seemed a little uncertain whether to hug or simply nod. It seemed Hermione decided on the nod and Oliver on the hug, which resulted in a stiff and uncomfortable embrace that subsided as quickly as it'd begun.

"I'd have to say the same! I heard you were playing here tonight, but I figured you'd be off somewhere else… Getting ready." Hermione trailed off before saying something stupide.

Oliver ran a hand through his hair,

"Yeah, well. I would have gotten you tickets, but since… well, you know… I reckoned it'd be a bit awkward."

"No, don't worry about it!" Hermione said. "You know I don't understand Quidditch anyway!"

Feeling a bit annoyed being completely left out of the conversation Draco cleared his throat,

"Ehrm. Just as well. Granger and I've a dinner planned tonight, anyway. Don't we, love?"

Even though she no doubt tried her hardest, Hermione couldn't prevent a deep blush from tinting her cheeks.

"Right. I do believe recalling I did make you a dinner-promise." she said, as courteously as she could.

Looking suspiciously between the two of them Oliver narrowed his eyes,

"So… What _are_ you doing here then?"

"Oh you know, just _blowing off_ some steam. You know how it gets in the city during a heat wave." Draco shrugged indifferently. "All your clothes sticking flush to your body from the sweat, making you not wanting to ware any at all. I mean, it even came to a point where we practically walked around _naked_ in the flat because we _had_ to. No, much more comfortable here then."

Hermione shot him a warning glare and he didn't need Legilimency to understand it meant _stop talking now!_

"Right…" Oliver said. "You're not here on a date, are you?"

"Why? Are you thinking of asking Granger out again?" Draco all but sneered.

Then Oliver did something unexpected. He laughed.

"Afraid of what would happen if I did?"

"I would lie if I said I wasn't a bit curious. But I could make my peace with living in oblivion." Draco shrugged.

"No, I'm not going to ask you out, Hermione." Oliver turned to Hermione.

"That's right. Dry your eyes, mate. I know it hurts but her mind's been made up." Draco sneered.

Completely ignoring him Oliver continued,

"The only reason I asked was that I was curious if you'd gotten your head out of your arses and realised you're actually very much in love with each other."

"You mean you knew?" Hermione blushed deeply yet again.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." Oliver winked. "Seriously, you'd have to be blind _not_ to see it."

"You're not mad?" Draco asked, eyeing Oliver as if he suspected the other man might be under the Imperius curse.

"Of course not!" Oliver snorted. "Disappointed that I really didn't have a chance with _the_ Hermione Granger, yes. We had our fun, and I'm glad we did. I know many who would literary kill for even that. But mad, no. Never. I'm happy for you, really I am."

Draco rolled his eyes at the pompous git but Hermione smiled,

"Thank you Oliver. That's very nice of you."

"Well, I'm off to warm-ups. See you around, Hermione. Malfoy, it was good to see you." And with that Oliver turned and walked away.

After collecting themselves from this bizarre encounter for a moment Hermione said,

"Did you hear that? Oliver said people would _kill_ to be with me. You should feel blessed."

"Oh, make no mistake. I do." Draco said as he swung his arm around her shoulder as they started walking back towards the apparition point. "I'm about to have naked-dinner with _the_ Hermione Granger. I wonder how many blokes would kill for _that_?"

* * *

 **Phew, good-guy-Oliver gave us some closure, didn't he? Personally, I always loved him in the books and I kind of feel bad for putting him through this story. Ah, well. I can always make it up to him in another story I guess.**

 **So tell me, how do you like the idea of naked-dinner? Will they be able to follow Hermione's no-touching-rule? Do you think it's time to break a few rules?**


	12. Chapter 12

Once back at the house Draco had told the house-elves to take the night off and that their services wasn't needed until the morning. As he reckoned Hermione would be uncomfortable enough as it were at least the presence of nosy house-elves lurking around could be eliminated. In fact, the problem with the nosiness wasn't something that S.P.E.W brought enough attention to. At least not in Draco's most humble opinion.

So with the house cleared of the nosy lot Draco told Hermione she'd have an hour to herself before dinner. And thus begun his preparations. First step: shower! One couldn't very well smell like city-sweat, could one? So after the shower and minimum hairstyling he completely skipped the 'getting dressed'-step and slipped on a white linen dressing gown.

Second step: what to eat? One wouldn't want food that bloats you, wound one? No, it'd have to be low carbs. Urgh. How he hated _low carbs_. But for this occasion it seemed necessary nonetheless. And the food had to be sexy too, wouldn't it? So, low carb sexy food… What was low carb sexy food? Hm, harder than he'd thought. Better proceed with step three: decorations with high 'cuddle factor' - so he could think about the food in the meantime.

As he stood on terrace, charming several lit lanterns to float in the air above the table, his Muggle mobile phone rang. Checking the display told him it was Blaise calling.

"Yeah?" Draco answered as he levitated a lantern directly above the table.

"Grab a pint with me tonight and be my wingman!" Blaise said, cutting right to the chase.

"Mmh, sorry can't tonight, mate. I'm in Croatia." Draco said.

"What the bloody hell are you doing in Croatia?" Blaise asked, surprised.

"Granger and I decided to go last minute. Spend a little time at the beach instead of the city in the wretched heat. I suggest you give it a go as well." Draco said as he sat down in one of the chairs.

"Draco…" Blaise begun and Draco didn't like the insinuation in his mate's tone.

"Blaise…" he answered, mimicking the same tone.

"Tell me honestly, are you naked right now?" Draco could actually _hear_ the smirk on Blaise's lips.

Sighing deeply in great annoyance Draco muttered,

"You know me too fucking well. How could you tell?"

"Your voice is always _a tad_ higher when you are." Blaise shrugged. "Is Hermione naked as well?"

"I don't know, perv. She isn't here right now." Draco sneered.

"Fine, I won't pry." Blaise apologised.

"As long as I have you, be useful and name a low carb sexy food for me, will you?" Draco said checking over his shoulder to make sure Hermione wasn't within earshot.

"Why?" Blaise asked. "Oh, are you making Hermione dinner? Are you on a _date_?"

"More like she lost a bet. But never mind. Got something in mind?" Draco asked.

"Oh, I know! Burrito aubergine boats!" Blaise suggested.

"The ones your mum made for your birthday? The once you eat with your hands?" Draco asked, a bit sceptical.

"Don't mention my mum when talking about sexy food, please." Blaise cringed. "But yeah, those ones. And you can make all sort of finger-food. Come on, eating with your hands brings out something sort of primal in you, doesn't it? You get some sauce on your finger and then lick it off. That's sexy."

Draco pondered over it for a moment before he answered,

"You know what? That's not a bad idea. I'll try it. Thanks, mate."

"Any time!" Blaise said happily. "But Draco, can I be brutally honest with you for a moment?"

"Yeah, of course." Draco said, a bit curious of what Blaise was about to say.

"You know I love you like a brother, mate. And I also love Hermione. As does Pansy, your parents, Theo and Goyle. And I know _you_ do too." Blaise said and paused for Draco to confirm.

"Yeah, yeah, get on with it." Draco said and glanced at his watch.

"Please, whatever you're planning on doing tonight with Hermione, just take it slow, won't you? She's not _that_ kind of girl." Blaise said.

"What do you mean _not that kind of girl_? I think I know her better than you do, mate." Draco snorted.

"I'm sure you do. But I know sometimes you think with your prick and that won't do it this time." Blaise continued patiently.

"Care to elaborate?" Draco sneered at his friend.

"I'll just lay it out for you then." His friend sighed. "Hermione will sleep with you when she's sure you're in love with her and when she's absolutely sure it won't be a one night stand. If you want her you've got to show her you want _all_ of her."

"But I tell her I love her all the time."

Draco lowered his voice just to make sure Hermione wouldn't overhear him. "I tell her she's all I ever need and that she makes me the happiest man alive. How can I be more obvious?"

"That's why I told you to take it slow, mate. _Show_ her sex isn't all that's on your mind when you're with her." Blaise said.

"I've just been her bloody best friend for years without ever sleeping with her. Isn't that enough?" Draco all but whined.

"It sounds a lot to me like you're dating now. That make things different." Blaise shrugged. "But hey, this is just me trying to give you advice. I'm not there to assess the situation. I'm sure you'll make the right call."

"Yeah, cheers mate. Well, I'd better go then and make the boats." Draco said as he glanced at the clock on his phone, which told him he only had 30 minutes left of his one-hour-preparation-time.

"Let me know how it works out." Blaise said.

"Absolutely not! I'll be hanging up now. Bye, Blaise." Rolling his eyes he removed the phone from his ear.

"Right, good luck, mate. Bye!" He heard Blaise say before he hung up.

Precisely 30 minutes later the setting was done, the table was set and Draco levitated the hot plates of burrito aubergine boats, some breadsticks, hummus and grapes onto the low table. Last minute he'd decided against the usual table set and transfigured it to a low table comfortable to eat from when sitting on the dozen or so pillows he'd placed around it. Lots of pillows and lanterns, that's a cuddly setting, right?

As he lit the candelabra on the table Hermione, wearing a similar white linen dressing gown, walked out to terrace and as she saw Draco's transformation of the place she let out a small gasp.

"Wow, it's absolutely beautiful!" She whispered as she admired the floating lanterns.

"I'm glad you like it." Draco smiled.

He walked over to her and stopped just on the verge of invading her personal space.

"Is the no-touching rule in effect yet?" He asked.

Hermione shook her head,

"No. It's invoked once our clothes are off."

"Good." He murmured and took a small step forward and brushed her hair behind her shoulders. He then gently graced her cheek with his left hand. "You really are so beautiful, Hermione. Inside and out."

"As are you." She smiled as she brushed some hair out of his eyes.

"If naked-dinner makes you uncomfortable we won't do it. I'll be more than happy to dine in these robes instead." He said and rested his forearms on her shoulders.

"It doesn't make me the least uncomfortable." She gave him a sly sort of smile.

"Good." He smirked. "But I do think you should know the real reason why I wanted to do naked-dinner with you."

Hermione gave him curious look.

"As I said last night, I want to know _everything_ about you, Hermione." He said, making sure to keep eye contact. "And being naked is very intimate, isn't it? I can't deny you're very fit and seeing you naked is something I've wanted for quite a while. But drooling over you isn't what I want tonight. Tonight I just want to be closer to you, and you to me. Spiritually. That's why I promise you I won't touch you unless you ask me to. And I won't make any double entendres for the whole night."

And it was true. Every word of it. In fact, he'd _never_ been able to lie to her. He'd tried before. Many times. Sometime he'd really wished he could. But he simply just wasn't able to.

She smiled brightly at him,

"Thank you for telling me that."

Not breaking the eye contact Hermione took a step backwards and untied the belt holding the dressing gown closed. Draco swallowed hard as she let the robe fall off her shoulders and then expose chest, arms, waist and hips before letting it fall to her feet, leaving her bare skin the only thing she wore.

A little taken by the lovely view Draco spoke the only thing on his mind,

"Wow."

Hermione let out a small giggle,

"Like what you see?"

"You have no idea. Thank you for trusting me enough to do this." Draco said as he loosened the knot on his belt.

He didn't take his time, like Hermione had done, and simply just let the robe fall to the floor. For several moments they just stood there still looking into each other's eyes, unsure what to do. It felt a bit odd looking at Hermione's naked body, and Draco really didn't know if he should.

 _But it's a bloody_ _naked_ _-dinner. Full frontal nudity_ _is_ _expected_ , he thought a little annoyed with himself.

Hermione seemed to be a feeling a little odd as well when she cleared her throat,

"So… scanning each other on the count of three and make it not wired anymore?"

Draco nodded,

"Absolutely."

"One… two…" Draco held his breath as she counted. "Three."

His plan was to take her goddess-like body in and let it burn into his retina but as soon as Hermione's eyes travelled down his own body he simply couldn't take his eyes off her face.

As her eyes graced over his toned pecs and defined abs a lovely pinkish blush tinted her cheeks and a small smile spread across her lips. There was a brilliant spark in her eyes which he only saw when she talk about or actually visited the library and for _him_ to be able to ignite the same spark made his heart swell. Hermione's eyes travelled further down and as they landed on his semi-erect penis (let's face it, having her stand naked before him did the job more than well, he was then very thankful he'd _prepared_ in the shower before dinner) she bit her bottom lip, closed her eyes slowly and took a sharp breath.

 _Well, well. Hermione Granger is turned on. By me_. He couldn't help but smirk and feel unreasonable pleased.

"Champagne, my lady?" He asked as he summoned a silver tray holding two champagne flutes.

"Please." She smiled as she took one flute. Grabbing the other Draco raised it,

"A toast. To…?"

"Us." Hermione supplied with a smile.

"Certainly." He smirked.

They both drank, a little more than a toast usually allows, as the situation seemed to call for just a tad of that liquid courage. After they'd drank they just stood there for a moment, not sure of what to do with their arms and hands, apart from holding the flutes.

"So, what did you make for us?" Hermione asked as she walked over to the low table inspecting the plates.

It took him several moments to answer, as he was too busy _staring_ at her perfectly round bum as she swayed her hips a little walking away from him.

"Um. It's burrito aubergine boats. A recipe I got from Blaise's mum." He said as he joined her by the table.

"Mhmm! It smells delicious!" She bent over slightly and Draco almost had to bite his fist as that somehow seemed only to make her bum even _more_ appealing.

"They are. But give them a minute to cool while we finish the champagne." He gestured towards the white wood railing facing out over the ocean.

They walked over to the railing and rested their arms on it, leaning casually against it. The sun stood close to the horizon and in about an hour it would be dark. But now it cast that soft, warm light that Draco thought made Hermione's skin almost glow.

"I've got a confession to make." He said turning his head towards her.

"Really?" She arched an eyebrow at him. "Did you do something stupid?"

"Perhaps." He confessed. "I might have broken a rule."

She peered at him for a long moment,

"How so?"

"I _sort of_ told Blaise we had a date tonight. Not about _this_. But I told him I was making you dinner. He solved the rest and I didn't really deny it." Draco said and wondered silently where this candour came from. Was it from being naked? Did the exposé of one's body this also expose one's soul?

As Hermione leaned on the railing her breasts were pushed slightly together creating the most irresistible cleavage and Draco couldn't really keep his eyes from wandering down to her chest every now and then.

"Why?" She asked calmly.

"Honestly? I love you and adore you so I want to tell the world how wonderful you are. And on top of that I'm so fucking proud that _you_ fancy _me_ I want the whole world to know that, too." He said.

Hermione turned her head to look out over the ocean again.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked, a little uncertain.

She smiled softly,

"No, of course not." Turning to face him she continued. "Sometimes I feel like I want to scream it out myself. Walking through town with your arm around my shoulder today felt better than I could've ever imagined. And now I can't imagine _not_ doing that in Diagon Alley when we get home."

"Nothing would give me more pleasure." He said. "Now, I think the boats are cool enough. Let's eat."

In a matter of minutes they seemed to forget that they weren't wearing any clothes. In Draco's opinion it was rather fascinating how quickly the very noticeable affect the lack of clothing had had in the start of the evening was just… gone. Conversations came easy. As did laughter and by the time they'd finished eating dinner they were almost comfortable enough sitting in an easy pose. _Almost_.

After having eaten they rearranged the sea of pillows to act like a sofa against the railing.

"You know what?" Hermione asked resting the back of her head against railing, sitting with her knees up.

"I'm not allowed to use Legilimancy on you, so no." Draco smirked, he too resting his head against the railing but with his legs stretched out in front of him.

"I thought naked-dinner would be awkward, you know… since I don't really like being naked all that much." She smirked. "But I actually really enjoyed it. Feels sort of liberating."

"Perhaps you _do_ like being naked around me?" Draco said as he ran both his hands down his own legs. Was the gesture a substitute motion for being deprived of running his hands down Hermione's legs? Probably yes.

"Yeah, maybe I do." She said and then let out a deep sigh.

Draco watched her and could very realistically visualise the gears turning inside her head,

"A knut for your thought."

"No. I don't want to kill the mood." She said, suddenly looking a bit sad.

"Hermione." Draco said and had to stop an impulse to tuck some stray locks behind her hair. "You could never kill the mood by telling me how you feel. I'm always very much interested in that."

She sighed again and shifted a little uncomfortable,

"Fine. But could you not look at me like that when I tell you?"

He smiled and shook his head slightly,

"Of course, you stubborn witch."

He turned 90 degrees from her and lay down on the pillows with his head resting a few centimetres from her thigh,

"There. Now I'm not looking at you."

"Draco, this has been a lovely weekend. You've been your most romantic and sexy self." She said and paused.

"I'm sensing there's a _but_ coming." He said as he slowly rubbed the back of his right hand with his left.

She gave him a quick smile before continuing,

"But what happens when it's not vacation-us trying to date? What happens when it's a grey Tuesday in November and the naked dinner in a warm foreign country is replaced with us being too tired from an exhausting day at work to cook dinner? What happens to us when we're back to living our everyday lives?" She paused again for a second. "What happens when you get bored with me?"

Her last words stung a bit. How could he ever get bored with this wonderful woman who challenged him every single day? He looked up and her and fought the urge to cup her cheek with his hand,

"I could never get bored with you, love. We've been living together for quite some time now and I still find you more fascinating with every passing day."

Smiling down at him she must have realised just how much not being allowed to touch her was killing him.

"Do you want to rest your head in my lap?" she asked softly.

"Are you asking me to?" he asked, keeping his promise from earlier not touching her unless _she_ asked him to.

"Yes, Draco."

Well, he certainly didn't need to be told twice.

"Can I play with your hair?" she asked as soon as he rested his head on her thighs.

"Yes, Hermione." He barely finished the words before a shiver of pleasure spread through his body as she ran her fingers through his hair. "And let me tell you what I see happening that grey Tuesday in November. If we're too tired to cook then I'll pick up some takeout on my way home from work. Like I always do. And when you get mad at me for forgetting the good soy-sauce, like you always do, I'll earn your forgiveness by making you a cup of tea and massaging your shoulders and feet, like I always do."

Her fingers caressed his forehead as she brushed hair out if his eyes,

"Right, point taken. Nothing will change."

"Oh, everything will change. But that doesn't mean what we already have will be lost." He found her gaze and held it. "I want our everyday life to be exactly as it is but instead of me saying 'good night, dear' before heading off to my room I want be lying in _our_ bed in _our_ room as I say it _every_ night. And after I've said that I want to kiss you. Not on the cheeks like I usually do, but on the lips. Your very tempting, inviting lips."

He heard her breath quicken a bit.

"I want that too." She whispered.

From his position in her lap Draco had a very nice view of her under-boobs and that made it somewhat hard for him to focus.

"I want to keep telling you that I love you, but now when I do I want you to know that it means so much more. It still means you're my favourite person in the whole world and that everything about you is just brilliant. But now it also means I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I can't really imagine anyone else in my life, romantic-style." He said.

Hermione chuckled a little and ran a slender finger down his cheek,

"I love you too, Draco. And I can't really imagine anyone else in my life but you either, romantic-style."

Fighting the urge to grab her hand he settled for resting them on his chest instead. Letting out a frustrated growl he said,

"I had no idea it'd be _this_ hard not being allowed to touch you. I guess we've always been very physical, haven't we?"

Hermione arched an eyebrow at him and smirked,

"Well, let's change that, shan't we? Because my plan for desert will be hard to do without touching. And I hope you can reconsider not wanting to drool all over me."

* * *

 **Sorry to be leaving you with a sort of cliff-hanger, but I had to unless this chapter was going to be too long.**

 **I found it very amusing that Bibbity88 and I seemed to have the same idea of what the best naked dinners involves, and even though dessert won't be sushi I still hope you'll like it :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Right, before the next chapter there are some things I'd like to say.**

 **First; THANK YOU for all the reviews! You really are the best people in the world to take your time and tell me what you think. That makes my heart swell :)**

 **Second; I do apologise in advance for possible spelling errors and other oddities in this chapter as I wrote most of this chapter on my phone and that makes writing so much harder (and slower), especially since English is a second language to me. I did proofread (twice), but there's a good chance I still missed something.**

 **Third; There's a risk you might find Draco a bit out of character in this chapter. But please stay with me and try to have some faith.**

 **Fourth; Sexy-times ahead, just a fair warning. But hey, we're in the middle of a naked dinner, what did you expect?**

* * *

Draco sat up and watched as Hermione rose, walked over to the table where she picked up her wand and summoned one large bowl of strawberries and another smaller one filled with melted chocolate.

Leaning back on his hands Draco smirked,

"That's some dessert you've got there. But I can't help but notice you haven't summoned any plates."

Smiling cunningly at him as she sat down next to him with the two bowls beside them she said in her silkiest voice,

"Hm. I guess I forgot. We'll just have to make do, then."

She dipped her finger in the melted chocolate and smeared it on Draco's shoulder and the crook of his neck.

Draco arched an eyebrow at her,

"I take it the no-touching rule is lifted?"

"It is." she confirmed.

Smirking smugly he said,

"But I want you to ask me."

Hermione tsked but smiled all the same,

"I want you to touch me, Draco."

"You don't have to tell me twice." he said as he, too, dipped a finger in the melted chocolate and smeared it down her neck and chest.

"Bon appetite." Hermione smiled and lay down on the pillows.

The sky was now dark as the sun had set behind the horizon and the only light on the terrace came from the floating lanterns and the candelabra on the table. But that was plenty of light for Draco to see all the curves, the smooth skin and the faint tan line from where Hermione's bikini usually sat. He could see the small imperfections as well. The bruise on her right thigh from where she'd dropped a book a few days ago. The scar on her left forearm and ribs from the war. The small stretch marks on her hips as a result of using the polijuice potion once or twice too many. All of it so beautiful; a part of what made her so perfect.

Aligning his upper body with hers and supporting his weight on his hand he softly nudged her legs with his knee, telling her to part them. She did and he placed one knee between her legs. For a moment they just looked at each other, suddenly very aware of this intimate position. Then Hermione broke out in a bubbly laughter.

"Is something amusing you, love?" he asked and nudged her nose with his.

"No, sorry!" She giggled again. "I'm just a bit nervous all of a sudden."

"Does this make you less nervous?" he murmured as he moved down her body and started licking the chocolate off of her chest.

Hermione's chest heaved as she took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of his hair.

She didn't need to speak, the quiet moan escaping her lips told Draco plenty. Running his tongue up her chest and neck she tilted her head back to give him better access. The taste of the chocolate mixed with the taste of her skin and suddenly all Draco wanted so do was smear her while body in chocolate and lick it clean. When he'd licked her neck clean he pushed himself up a little to face her. He couldn't hold back a smirk when he saw a strawberry between her lips.

"Hm, seems I've missed a spot." he whispered before bending down and biting off half of the strawberry.

Hermione placed her hands around the back of his head and pulled him towards her, slowly,

"Looks like you still got some chocolate there."

Draco got in a hurry to swallow the fruit in his mouth and just as he had Hermione's lips met his. And that was how, lying naked and covered in chocolate on the terrace in Croatia, they shared their first kiss. A kiss that tasted like chocolate and strawberries mixed with champagne and it was the best kiss Draco had ever experienced. His hands found the side of her head where he intertwined his fingers in her hair. She pulled him even closer to her and ran her fingers down his back. A small moan escaped her as he continued kissing her with an urge he hadn't ever felt before. He felt a _need_ to keep kissing her, like he would die if he stopped. Like everything else in the world didn't matter anymore, like everything of importance was happening right here.

 _Is this what it feels like to kiss someone you're in love with?_

Somewhere beneath him he felt Hermione move her legs, parting them a bit more. The blood in his body rushed to a certain part of his anatomy, which stiffened even more than before, and he deepened the kiss as he placed himself between both her legs. With her nails digging into his shoulders Hermione bit his bottom lip, in a playful way.

This was an invitation, wasn't it? He could feel her heart racing beneath him, and safe to say his was doing just the same. Pausing the snogging session for a moment he looked at her, with her long hair spilled over the pillows on the floor like a halo. Her parted lips as she panted slightly. And finally into her lust filled, dark gaze that found his through her hooded eyelids.

Yes. This _was_ an invitation. And if Blaise was right, this meant Hermione put a lot of confidence and trust in him. He felt how his heart grew at least three sizes as a flood of emotions washed over him. He knew. He was dead sure. And when you know, you know, don't you?

He kissed her again, trying to pour all of his emotions into it. Hermione seemed to pick up on it as she arched her back, pressing her chest against his. They were so close; so incredibly close, his tip, leaking with lust and desire, just at her entrance. Beneath him he felt her parting her legs a bit more.

This was _it_. _She_ was it.

With one more kiss he slowly pushed inside her, just the tip, and Hermione let out a small moan, which drowned in the kiss. But suddenly he stopped. He froze. Couldn't bare himself to push himself all the way into her.

Reluctantly he broke away from the kiss,

"Hermione…" he croaked, a little out of breath and still flooded with emotions.

She opened her eyes and looked into his stormy, grey eyes that no doubt already had told her what he was about to say.

"Yes?" she whispered, brushing some hair out of his eyes.

"I can't…" unable to finish the sentence he let his head fall onto her shoulder.

Gently she played with the hair on the back of his head,

"Draco, it's alright."

He lifted his head up again and found her gaze again,

"Hermione, we can't have sex tonight."

"How come?" She ran her fingers down the side of his face.

"Because I'm scared." he confessed. "If simply _kissing_ you is this overwhelming I don't think I can handle what shagging you would be like." He smiled, awkwardly. "I'm scared that I would actually cry a little."

"Draco, it's alright." she said again and she placed a light kiss on his lips. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, of course." he said, not liking the loss of her lips against his.

"Have you ever been in love before?"

The question had him baffled for a moment.

"Um… no, I don't think I have." he answered, and honestly he felt like an idiot for telling her.

"Is that why you're scared? Because this is a new feeling?" she asked, calmly.

"Um, yeah." he said, quietly.

"It just got a little real, didn't it?" she smiled knowingly and sat up, forcing him to sit up as well.

Leaning his back against the railing he said,

"Why aren't _you_ more freaked out?"

She shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes,

"You stupid boy. This is how _I_ felt after our friend-date at the Spanish place."

"Oh, you're _weeks_ ahead of me then." he muttered. "But you know what they say: head first, eyes closed, can't lose, right?"

Hermione laughed.

"I'm fairly sure that's _not_ how the expression goes." she turned towards him and cupped his face with her hands. "But that's very Gryffindor of you to say."

"Urgh, no need for insults." he smirked and wrapped an arm around her and pulled her onto his lap.

She giggled as she straddled his legs, standing with her knees on either side of them,

"So." she whispered, towering slightly over him and running her fingers through his hair.

Letting his hands run up the back of her thighs, the soft skin on her bum and finally resting on the small of her back he whispered back,

"So?"

"I still haven't eaten _my_ dessert yet." she smirked.

Thankful Hermione chose not to linger on his declination of sex he glanced down on the chocolate still smeared on his shoulder he smirked back at her,

"Have at it, sweetheart."

She brushed her hair to one side and bent down, letting her tongue run over the chocolate-covered area. As he ran his hands up her back, feeling her warm skin under his touch he nuzzled his nose into her neck. Even though the chocolate-trail had ended she continued running her tongue up his neck and finally to his earlobe, which she lightly drew between her teeth. Unable to resist he sank his teeth into her neck, something that earned his a moan coming from her.

After that hands, mouths and tongues where everywhere. Draco pushed Hermione back so she way once again lying on the sea of pillows. Kneeling in front of her he placed one of her legs on his shoulder and smeared a chocolate-trail along it. In the process he got a little too excited and let it run further up her inner thigh than he'd initially planned, but as Hermione just raised a curious eyebrow and smirked a little he reckoned she didn't object.

Starting just below the knee on the inside of her leg he licked and sucked her skin clean working his way up her leg. She had always had fantastic legs, hadn't she? If it'd be up to Draco she'd never wear skirts, dresses, trousers or anything else offensive that covered up those long slender parts of her. As he got to her mid-thigh he put her leg down to rest on the pillows and lay down between her legs to continue what he could only think of as _the_ best dessert he'd ever had. He placed both his hands on her hips and pulled her a little closer. Hermione let out a deep breath, almost a moan.

The chocolate was now all gone, but Draco had no desire to abandon this position. Hell, would he _ever_? He therefore turned his attention to her other thigh where he trailed soft kisses going higher up the thigh. At this Hermione's hands found his, still placed on her hips, and she intertwined their fingers and a quiet moan escaped her lips.

At this point Draco was far enough up her leg to smell her arousal. And it was, just as he'd predicted, absolutely intoxicating. He took a deep breath, and again just like he'd predicted, it _did_ drive him wild. Kissing her wasn't enough anymore. He had to taste her. Peering up from her thigh he looked at her, asking for permission.

Hermione was haft sitting up, resting her upper body on her elbows. She met his longing gaze and without hesitation she murmured,

"Fuck, yes."

Well, he certainly didn't need to be told twice. He parted her lips and ran his tongue along her slit.

 _By Merlin, does she really taste incredible or have I just not done this in too long?_ He silently wondered as his fingers dug deeper into her hips and he pulled her closer.

Above him he felt her body move as she lay down again and ran her fingers through her hair,

"Oh. Fuck. Yesss." she moaned.

 _What do you know? She's uncomfortable with dirty-talk but is quite vocal in the act._ He made a mental note to put that on the list of things that made this witch ever so perfect.

If ever asked later he couldn't account for how long he spent down there. Could have been minutes, might as well have been hours. What he did know was that he strained every nerve and he loved ever bit of it. It might sound a bit odd, but he loved how physical and, well, involved she was. Like how she swayed her hips slightly increasing the friction or how she ran her fingers through his hair and tugged it a bit when she got close or how at one point she actually wrapped her legs around his neck, almost suffocating him. And in all honesty he could imagine worse deaths than that. He loved how noises or words constantly poured from her. The moans, the sharp intakes of breath mixed with the _oh gods, fucks, yeses_ and his absolute favourite: _Dracos_.

Eventually she fell over the edge and as she did she placed a pillow over her face and screamed out her ecstasy into it. After giving her a moment to come down and catch her breath Draco wiped his mouth and chin on a pillow and lay down beside her and just watched her.

Still panting a bit Hermione turned to lie on her side, facing him.

"Hi." she whispered.

"Hi." he whispered back and couldn't stop a dorkish smile spreading across his lips.

She smiled too, and then pulled him into a deep kiss that left him a little out of breath.

"Can I just tell you…" Hermione said as she pulled away from the kiss. "… that _that_ was just bloody brilliant."

Draco smirked and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she cuddled into his side,

"I promised you _every time_ , didn't I?"

She placed a kiss on his neck and sighed content,

"And I intend to hold you to that promise."

"My pleasure, love."

* * *

 **So, I** _ **know**_ **Draco is a little out of character here, isn't he? How is he suddenly** _ **too emotional**_ **to have sex (I guess in his mind oral sex doesn't count)? What the hell is that about? And why tell Hermione he might cry? Well, lets just say this will be explained in due time.**


	14. Chapter 14

**I strongly suspect that something is about to happen which some people might find a bit… off. Our friends are about to encounter a problem I don't think I've come across before while reading fanfics, not in any about Draco at least. Or it might very well be that I haven't read that many. Anyway, perhaps there's a reason for lack of this particular problem. Perhaps it's not appreciated. Anyway, here it is.**

* * *

The trip to Croatia was coming to an end, but not before things got a little exciting in the shower they shared on the morning of their departure. As it turned out lathering each other in soap was quite an effective foreplay. But then, as Hermione had her legs wrapped around Draco's midriff and he had her pinned against the wall just about to… Then the strangest thing happened.

His fucking dick drooped.

The (up until a second ago) very prominent erection was suddenly _nowhere_ to be found.

What the hell? This had never happened to him before.

Shocked and, honestly, a little mortified he'd rather abruptly dropped Hermione down on the floor again and just stared out to thin air. And while he was rinsing the soap off of him he could hear Hermione somewhere behind him analysing the event.

"Perhaps you're tired."

"Are you getting ill?"

"Perhaps it's stress."

"Maybe it's being here, and not home."

He certainly wasn't tired. Hell, he'd just had a weekend trip to bloody Croatia. All he did was sleep. And he felt just fine. Fit as a fiddle, in fact. Stress? Sex was his fucking way of dealing with stress! That had never been a problem before, had it? And _not home_? Ridiculous! It could have been on the bottom of the ocean for all he cared, that usually didn't matter. _Usually_.

But perhaps she was right. At the end of the day she usually was. So he really tried not to think about it too much. Perhaps this problem was short-lived.

Once they got home, back to their flat in London, they didn't even try again for a week or so. But then, one night, things just seemed _right_. They were lying in bed and Draco was slowly running his fingers up and down her back. She planted a soft kiss on his neck and suddenly the atmosphere changed. It became sort of electric. As they locked eyes it was obvious they both felt it. That they were both thinking the same thing. Wanted the same thing. The few clothing items they still wore quickly came off and Draco rolled on top of Hermione who wrapped her legs around him. But then…

"FUCK! Why is this happening?" Draco roared as his dick once again collapsed.

"Draco, stay calm." Hermione said but Draco rolled off of her and out of bed.

"Where are you going?" she asked and sat up, pulling the blanket up to cover her chest.

"I'm going to go and chop my dick off as it's of no use anyway." he muttered.

"No, you're not." Hermione sighed. "Come back to bed."

Sighing, he sat down at the edge of the bed, resting his forearms on his knees,

"Is this karma being a fucking bitch since I said Captain Quidditch was malfunctioning?"

Hermione scooted closer to him, wrapped her arm around his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek,

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What's there to say? My dick is broken, something is horribly wrong with me, I'm a terrible person and I'll never have sex ever again. Simple as that." he shrugged.

She rolled her eyes at him,

"Alright there, martyr. Quit the pity party. You're _not_ a terrible person and _nothing_ is wrong with you or your dick."

"How can you say that when that's obviously the case?" he sneered as he turned towards her.

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh,

"I know you're upset, I get it. But don't you dare sneer at me like that just because you're going through something!"

Draco ran his hands through his hair,

"You're right. Sorry."

Running her nails down his back in a slow, comforting motion she said softly,

"I'm not trying to ridicule you. I only want to support you."

She planted a soft kiss on his cheek,

"And I honestly think we should talk about it."

"I've got nothing to say." he said, flatly.

"Just know I'm in this with you. I love you." She planted another kiss on his cheek.

"I love you too. That's why I hate that this is happening so much." he sighed.

"I know." She lay down in the bed again and lifted the corner of the blanket. "Now come back here. You can be the little spoon if you like."

And that was how they'd left it. So, in hindsight it turned out that _not_ shagging Hermione on the terrace in Croatia _was_ a mistake on his part.

A huge mistake.

Who knew?

Here he was, trying to be a decent bloke by not rushing things and now it comes back and just bites him in the arse. Sod's _fucking_ Law!

Somehow _not_ shagging her that night must have messed up his system one way or another because ever since then he didn't seem _able_ to. He _wanted_ to. But now his treacherous snake failed him every time he tried. And now he was stuck at a boring business meeting that had turned into a boring business dinner, daydreaming of what he'd rather do if his dick would just co-operate.

As Draco was out for the night Hermione took the opportunity to invite Ginny for a girls-night-dinner at their flat as some quality time with her friend was long over-due. No ulterior motive. Honest!

"So, what's going on, Hermione?" Ginny asked as they cleared their plates and Hermione refilled their wineglasses for the third time that night.

Hermione fiddled nervously with her glass,

"Um, well. There's actually something I wanted to ask you."

Ginny titled her head slightly and grinned,

"I knew this wasn't just a normal dinner. Ask away."

"Um, right." Hermione said and then turned her attention back to her wineglass. "So, um. When you're with someone and, um, _about to_ , you know… Has it ever happened he just sort of deflates?"

"What? You mean like fire whiskey-dick? Yeah, that happens all the time." Ginny grimaced. "It seems men and women are quite incompatible under the influence of alcohol."

Hermione ran her hand through her hair,

"Yeah, I know. But I mean has that happened without alcohol even being in the picture?"

Ginny seemed to search her mind for a long moment,

"No, I don't think that's ever happened to anyone I've been with."

 _Well this sucks. I knew I should have tried a book instead of asking people._ Hermione though annoyed as she frowned.

"Hang on. It has happened to _you_ , hasn't it?" Ginny gasped. "With whom?"

"Oh, never mind. If it hasn't happened to you I won't involve you in this." Hermione said, trying to get Ginny to drop it.

Ginny leaned forward, resting her arms on the table between them,

"Just because it hasn't happened to me doesn't me I can't help. Talk me through it. Let's see if we can figure out what's happening."

Sighing in surrender, Hermione took a sip of her wine,

"Fine, but you can't tell _anyone_ what I'm about to tell you. Promise?"

Ginny held her hand across her heart,

"I would even make it unbreakable."

"Right. So, I've sort of been seeing someone for a few weeks now and things are great. Apart from the fact that we haven't had sex." Hermione bit her thumbnail making a grimace and waited for Ginny's reaction.

"Yeah, _that_ I got." Ginny drawled. " _Why_ haven't you had sex yet?"

"First we said we'd wait. You know, not to rush things. But then as time went on and we both felt ready we _couldn't_. Or rather _he_ couldn't. And we've tried a couple of times, but every time he about to, you know, _enter_ , it just sort of deflates." Against her will Hermione's cheeks turned scarlet.

"Oh." Ginny said, almost stunned. "Oh Merlin, Hermione, that sucks! Do you know why? I mean, has this happened to him before?"

Hermione bit her bottom lip,

"Um, no, I don't think so."

"Are you sure he even _can_ do it? I mean, is this his first time? Is he nervous?" Ginny asked.

Hermione couldn't help let out a condescending snort,

"I'm positive he _can_. This is _not_ his first time. I mean we sort of almost did it once. The first time."

"You _sort of almost_ did it?" Ginny grinned. "What does that even mean?"

"Oh gosh, this is going to get very personal, isn't it?" Hermione blushed. "Well, the first time he was technically _inside_ me." She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. "It was just the tip, but then he stopped. Said it was too overwhelming."

Ginny just stared at her friend for a moment,

"Alright, so you've _got to_ tell me who we're talking about!"

"I can't, Gin. If he knew I was talking to you about this he'd go mental." Hermione said.

"So it's someone I know?" Ginny arched one eyebrow at her friend.

"It doesn't matter." Hermione said, firmly.

Ginny let out a small sigh,

"Hermione, you're one of my best friends. I can see this is frustrating to you and I want to help you. Knowing whom we're talking about would make that easier. I'm not after gossip here."

"But you can't tell _anyone_. This conversation doesn't leave this room!" Hermione said.

"Remember back at Hogwarts when I fancied Harry and was acting awkward around him and didn't know what to do with myself?" Ginny said, calmly.

"Yes, of course." Hermione said, not sure what her friend was getting at.

"I talked to _you_ about that and _you_ gave me great advice. And you _never_ told anyone about our talks, which I'm very grateful for because that was really embarrassing for me." Ginny smiled. "Let me return the favour now. You can trust me as I trust you."

Hermione bit her bottom lip and hesitated for a moment,

"It's Malfoy."

For a good moment Ginny just stared at her, not sure if she'd heard correctly.

" _MALFOY_? You're shagging Malfoy?"

Hermione shushed her friend and added with an annoyed hiss,

"For the love of Merlin, _keep it down_! And no. I'm _not_ shagging him. Haven't you been listening?"

"Sorry, I just had to get it out of my system." Ginny apologised.

"Yeah, well we're sort of figuring out what we are and how to be us in this, that's why we're not telling anyone yet." Hermione leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "You really can't tell anyone, Ginny. Not even Harry."

Ginny shook her head violently,

"No, of course I won't. But you've got to give me a minute to wrap my head around this. _This_ changes everything!"

"Sure. Take your time." Hermione took a sip of her wine and watched as Ginny's eyes flickered back and forth over the table, no doubt putting all the pieces together.

"Hang on." Ginny finally said, a disturbing spark suddenly gleaming in her eyes. "Are you telling me that Draco _Sex God_ Malfoy can't get it up?"

"Oh, he can get it _up_. He just can't get it _in_." Hermione blushed slightly. "Hang on. How do you know he's a sex god?"

Ginny shrugged,

"Just a hunch. He's got sort of a sex-god-aura, hasn't he?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment,

"Um. Sure."

"But honestly, I'd never picture _him_ as someone with this kind of problem." Ginny said, frowning slightly.

Hermione sighed and stared at her wineglass,

"Me neither."

Ginny hesitated for a moment,

"Hermione, do you think it's possible that on some level he doesn't _want_ to have sex with you?"

Looking up from her glass, Hermione whispered in horror,

"Why wouldn't he? Don't you think he's attracted to me?"

"No, you told me he said it was too overwhelming, right?" Ginny said, slowly. "I think maybe more like he's scared to take that step?"

"But that's the thing though, he doesn't see this as a step." Hermione frowned, thinking hard. "He's always seen holding hands, hugging and even _talking_ as more intimate than having sex."

"Yeah, maybe he did think that before. Perhaps having sex means something else when it's with you?" Ginny suggested.

Hermione bit her bottom lip,

"But why?"

Ginny rolled her eyes at her friend,

"Because he's in love with you, you daft cow!"

"But why would _that_ be a problem? Isn't that when the best sex happens?"

"I don't know! Have you talked about it?" Ginny asked.

"A bit, but he's not too keen on talking about it." Hermione sighed. "At least not with me."

"Why?" Ginny asked, frankly.

"Probably because this problem is _personal_ , Ginny." Hermione said.

"Yeah, but you lot never had any problems talking about _personal_ matters before, did you? In fact, you _only_ ever talk to _each other_ about that stuff. You talk about _everything_. Has that changed just because you almost shagged once?"

At her words Hermione just sat quiet for a while. Ginny had a point, hadn't she?

Ginny sighed impatiently and continued,

"I mean last year when you though you felt a lump in your breast who was the first one you told? And _who_ was finally allowed to examine it because you were too scared to see the healers? And when that French witch broke Malfoy's dick after what I can only assume was a very adventures sexescapade and he had to spend the entire weekend in the bathtub with an ice pack, whom did he tell? And who spent the weekend on the bathroom-floor beside him part taking the piss out of him and part taking care of him?"

"Fine, I get it. If this wasn't happening with _me, I_ would be the one hearing all about it." Hermione sighed.

"Yeah, you certainly would." Ginny nodded. "Just talk to him. You're still _you_ , aren't you? Because if you aren't I'd seriously advice you to reconsider going down this road."

"Oh fuck. You're right. We're going to have to talk about it and it's going to be uncomfortable." Hermione whined.

"Yeah it probably will be. But _not_ having the talk might result in something worse." Ginny shrugged. "I know you love each other. It'll be worth it when it's over."

Hermione took a large gulp of wine and ran her fingers through her hair again,

"How do I make this the least uncomfortable? Any ideas?"

"Well, it seems you're dating now. Might be a good idea to get back in the headspace you were before. You know, when you were just weird best friends." Ginny suggested and drank as well.

"How do I do that?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shrugged,

"Well, don't snog him in the middle of it would be my first suggestion. The second would be for you to dress down a bit. You know, think _what would bookworm and library-lover Hermione Granger wear at Hogwarts_?"

"That's helpful. And a bit offensive." Hermione muttered.

"Anytime." Ginny beamed.

Before Ginny had time to give Hermione any more great advice there was a whooshing noise coming from the fireplace and seconds later they heard,

"Honey, I'm home!"

"In the kitchen, Malfoy. Ginny is here as well." Hermione called and added to Ginny in a low hiss, "Promise me you'll be cool!"

Ginny rolled her eyes,

"I'll try. Still trying to wrap my head around all this."

Seconds later Draco walked into the kitchen where he kissed Hermione's cheeks to which she let out a small hum of content. On the other side of the table Ginny watched them with an expression on her face that told Hermione she was making quite the effort to hold back an _aaaaw_ , even though Ginny had seen this greeting-routine a million times before.

"Alright, Weaslett?" Draco asked as he eyed Ginny suspiciously.

"Yeah, just fine. How was dinner?" she said, casually.

"Dreadful, like always when it's business related. And on top of that Pansy chose a terrible restaurant. Couldn't eat one bit." Draco muttered and turned around to rummage through the fridge in search of something edible. "How was your dinner?"

"Great, Ginny brought Molly's chilli-filled Yorkshire pudding. There's still some left if you want." Hermione said, pointing to the stove.

"Mhmm, I love Molly's cooking." Draco said cheerfully as he grabbed a plate and placed a large portion on it before he sat down at the table, Hermione to his left, Ginny to his right.

No one spoke for a moment and a sinister feeling started to fill Draco as both girls just kept looking at him, both of them with peculiar looks on their faces.

"What?" he finally asked, looking from one to the other. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, you're as handsome as ever." Ginny quipped and took a sip of her wine.

Draco watched her for a moment and narrowed his eyes,

"You never call me handsome. You're up to something, aren't you?"

"No, Ginny is just being cheeky." Hermione said, giving her friend a stern look.

"Yeah, no one is really _up_ to anything." Ginny smirked.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend and Draco stared at her in confusion.

He then sighed and put down his utensils,

"Right. Did I just interrupt something? Should I eat my meal in front of the telly and let you two continue whatever you were doing?"

"No, please stay. I'll need to get going anyway. Early practise tomorrow." Ginny said. "Thank you for the wine, Hermione."

"Right, fly safe tomorrow then, Weaslett." Draco said and returned his attention to his food.

"Cheers. See you soon, Malfoy." Ginny rose from her seat and Hermione did the same, walking her friend to the fireplace.

By the fireplace as they hugged goodbye Ginny whispered,

"Sorry! I just had to get it out of my system."

"That's alright. No harm done." Hermione whispered back.

"Talk to him." Ginny said, still keeping her voice low.

"I will, eventually." Hermione then smiled. "Thank you for the talk. I feel better already."

Ginny let go of the hug and smiled too,

"Don't worry too much about it. You're _you_. I know you'll get over this and then we'll all laugh about it soon."

Hermione cringed,

"Yeah, not sure if this will ever be considered a laughing matter."

"Tragedy plus time equals comedy. Take it from someone who grew up with our times greatest jokesters." Ginny winked. "And a little anxiety gives life content."

Hermione smiled at her friend,

"Thank you. Tell Harry I said hi, will you?"

"And thank Molly for this delicious Yorkshire pudding." Draco yelled from the kitchen.

Both girls cringed.

"Merlin's saggy left… Do you think he heard?" Hermione whispered.

"Well, I'm not going to stay here and find out. Best of luck. Love you, bye!" And with that Ginny grabbed a handful of floo-powder and disappeared.

* * *

 **Well, what's life with out a little help from your friends, right?**

 **Was it un-cool of Hermione to tell Ginny? Or do you think it was justified since Draco doesn't seem very talkative about this? Or do you have a completely different** **opinion? Please, tell me!**


	15. Chapter 15

**I must say I'm quite surprised the last chapter seemed to get a lot of people involved. There were so many of you sharing very insightful thoughts and opinions, and I just want you to say thank you!**

* * *

Truth be told, Hermione was scared shitless to go back into the kitchen.

What _if_ he'd heard them?

Would he be mad?

 _Like you even have to ask. Mad wouldn't even begin to describe it._

And Merlin forbid, had she betrayed his trust beyond all repair?

She ran her hands through her hair and sighed, trying to summon some of that well needed Gryffindor courage. She'd decided to tell Ginny, and she knew _why_ she'd made that decision. Now it was time to own that decision.

As she entered the kitchen again Draco was standing by the sink, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows and with his arms deep in the soapy dishwater. Normally, him doing the dishes wouldn't be the least bit ominous. But he was doing them the Muggle-way. _That_ was ominous as hell.

"So." Draco said as he put a plate in the plate rack. "Did you and Weaslett have a good time tonight?"

His tone of voice gave Hermione nothing. Could have been an honest question. Could just as well have been him wanting her to admit it.

"Um." She bit her inner cheek, trying to come up with a suiting answer. "Sort of?" She finally offered.

Without turning away from the dishes Draco said, calmly,

"You're wondering if I heard you, aren't you?"

 _Shit!_ Heat spread from her neck up to her cheeks and her heart was racing a mile a minute. _Damn it, the man had hearing like a fucking owl!_

"So, I guess you _did_ hear us." Standing in the doorway, making sure to keep a safe distance just in case there was a paddy waiting to be thrown where dishes would be flying, she observed as he rinsed a wineglass. "And I guess you already figured out what you interrupted, then?"

Grabbing a towel, he started drying his hands and arms slowly.

Too slowly.

"I get the general idea." He turned around and leaned against the sink, arms folded across his chest. "But I'm dying to know _exactly_ _what_ you told her."

The look on his face was harsh, his features almost painfully twisted. In fact, this was a look she hadn't seen on him in _years_ and she understood that this would only end one way.

 _Well, talk about a night gone pare-shaped._

Any other person put in this situation probably would have lied, and they'd probably have been wise to do so. The thought accrued to her, and she _was_ tempted. But Hermione Granger doesn't lie. Not to _him_. _Never_ to him.

"I told her everything."

For a minute it looked like Draco's eyes would pop out of their sockets and he got a hysterical look on his face.

He was just about to shout something, which no doubt would have been very unpleasant, but Hermione spoke first,

"Before you start yelling at me, let me explain."

Draco had to bite his tongue, both literally and figuratively, and gave her a quick nod.

"Right. But it better be _good_." he hissed.

To not expect him to be a bit upset would have been foolish, she knew this. But was it really necessary for him to hiss at her like that? She hadn't talked to Ginny to be mean to him. She just wanted to help, and honesty she was more than a little annoyed he didn't seem to realise this. Did he really she'd done this out of spite?

"And before you freak out even more; she won't tell anyone." she said, trying desperately to defuse the situation.

"Oh, she won't tell anyone?" he jeered. "So I'm supposed to be thankful that it was just you and Weaslett who made fun of me, then? Is that it?"

" _Fun_?" she snapped, feeling her own anger rise within her. "You think I did this for our amusement? You think I told Ginny about our problem for a laugh?"

"I don't fucking know why you had to tell her! But I do know it was a shitty thing of you to do!" he snapped back. "Do you have any idea how fucking humiliating this is for me, Granger?"

 _Granger?!_

The last bit of self-control left her with being referred to as Granger again and the anger was now all she felt. She took a step towards him,

"You've really got no clue why I talked to Ginny, _Malfoy_? How about _you_ refusing to talk to _me_? How about that we, together, even before we got in to this whole thing agreed that we'd _talk_ to each other if there was ever friction but you still refuse to even though I was begging you to? How about that you still see this as _your_ problem and not _ours_?"

At this point Hermione's eyes had something hysterical in them as well, and a wiser man than Draco would probably have acknowledged these valid points she was making. A wiser man would probably also have acknowledged the warning signs and realised it wouldn't be a good idea to pour gasoline on the fire.

But Draco wasn't really a wiser man, was he?

"I don't fucking care!" He took a step towards her as well. "This _is_ my problem and you had no right to tell her! You're supposed to value integrity. You refused to tell me if Captain Quidditch bleached his arsehole, but you're fine just broadcasting _this_ out? Aren't you just the fucking queen of hypocrisy?"

For a moment Hermione was at a lost for words. How can anyone be _this_ daft?

She threw her hands up in the air, a gesture of hopelessness, and shouted,

"You _really_ don't see a difference? If Oliver bleaches his fucking arsehole or not has _nothing_ to do with either you or me. But when you and I can't have sex that has every fucking thing to do with _me_ and that's why I talk to my friend about what's bothering _me_!"

She probably should have stopped there, but the anger raged inside her and she wasn't able to control it,

"And _WHY_ do you even bring up Oliver in this? Is that what all of this is about? Are you still jealous? Some sort of inferiority complex because he was named England's most eligible bachelor number three and you number six?"

"Oi! I was number _five_! And don't you forget it!" Draco shouted back.

Unable to stop herself, Hermione rolled her eyes,

"Do you even hear yourself? Your head is so far up your arse you're completely oblivious to _my_ feelings in this."

She took another step towards him so that she was now standing within an arms length of him.

"Do you have any idea how this makes _me_ feel?"

She poked his chest once, hard.

"Don't you think _I_ question _myself_?"

 _Poke_

"My personality?"

 _Poke_

"My looks?"

 _Poke_

"Am I ugly? Too thin? Are my breasts too small? Am I sexy enough?"

 _Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke._

All the anger inside her was finally all poked out and she was left with nothing but sadness. Tears burned behind her eyes and threatened to spill down her cheek.

She let her hands fall to her sides. Her head fell down as well and she whispered,

"We used to talk about _everything_. But now you won't let me in. Don't you understand that this makes me feel like I'm not good enough? Like you don't want me? Like I'm not worth talking to?"

 _Shit._

He was the world's biggest piece of shit, wasn't he? Completely dead from the neck up.

"Shit. Hermione, I-" he begun, but she cut him off.

"Don't you fucking dare _Hermione_ me now." As she lifted her head to look at him again he saw tears streaming down her cheeks and his heart broke into a million small pieces.

In that moment he wanted to do nothing else but to hug her. To hold her tight and never let her go while he made her understand that she was perfect, just the way she was. To tell her that even now, with red, puffy eyes, running nose and hair wilder than Bellatrix Lestrange's she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. But how does one tell someone that after just having been the world's biggest cunt?

By owning it?

"Hermione, I'm a fucking cunt."

She stopped sobbing and frustrated tried to wipe the tears from her eyes,

"What?"

"You're right, I never though about how you feel. And that makes me a fucking cunt." He raised his hand to face, but then hesitated for a moment, not sure it she wanted him to touch her. When she didn't jerk away he gently brushed his thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tears. "And you're right, this is _our_ problem. But it's because of _me_. Not you. Never you."

"How the hell am I supposed to know that if you don't tell me?" She shot him an angry look. "I didn't take the mindreading class, you know."

"I know." He stuffed his hands down his pockets. "And it's called Divination. Not 'mindreading class'."

"Still a bloody hoax." she scowled, even though Draco could clearly see the corner of her mouth twitch a little.

He couldn't help but smile a little,

"Can I hug you? I really want to hug you."

Still pouting, she nodded her head.

Draco reached behind her, pulled out the chair to sit down and then pulled Hermione to sit on his lap. She rested her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, tight. Slowly, he rocked her back and forth while stroking her hair in a gentle, calming motion.

"I know you're mad I told Ginny." she whispered into his chest after a while. "I completely understand that you are. And I really am sorry I hurt you."

"Yeah, I'd rather you didn't tell her. But I get why you did." He kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry I made you feel like you had to talk to her."

She looked up at him,

"Can I ask you something?"

He brushed the hair behind her shoulders,

"Of course."

"If this wasn't happening to you with me. If this happened with someone else. Would you tell me?" She searched his eyes.

After having thought about for a long moment, he sighed,

"Yes. Yes, I would want to talk to you about it."

"So why won't you now?" She traced a finger along the neckline of his shirt. "Has something changed because we almost had sex? Did that make _us_ complicated? Does it mean we can't be best friends anymore?"

He kissed the top of her head and rested his chin on top of her head,

"Of course you're still my best friend. And I still want to talk about everything with you. It's just, honestly, I'm a bit scared."

"Scared of what?" She rested her head against his chest again and he continued stroking her hair.

"I don't know _why_ this is happening, so I don't know what to tell to you. And that scares the shit out of me." His grip around her tightened, as if he was scared she'd slip away.

Looking up at him again, she placed her palm against his cheek,

"It's alright to be scared, Draco. Being scared isn't dangerous. Doing stupid things because you're scared, like shutting me out, _that's_ dangerous."

With his free hand he took her hand in his and placed a kiss inside her palm,

"I know. I realise that now."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, burrowing her nose in the crook of his neck.

"You know what's odd?" Her words drowned a bit as they were spoken into his neck, but he still heard her just fine.

He wrapped both his arms around her waist and let his thumb run along the small of her back,

"No, tell me."

"That even though I was furious with you a minute ago, you're still the only person I want to seek comfort from." The grip around his neck tightened.

"Yeah, me, too." He kissed the side of her head. "I didn't know it was possible to want to hug a person and never let them go when at the same time you're this furious at them."

She loosened her grip around his neck and leaned back, her arms still resting on his shoulders,

"I'm really sorry."

"I know. And so am I." And he really was.

Biting her bottom lip, she seemed to hesitate for a moment,

"So, can we _please_ talk about the fact that we can't have sex?"

A part of him had haft a mind to sigh and roll his eyes, but he decided against it and settled with just the sigh,

"But that's the thing, Hermione. I don't _know_ why this is happening!"

"You don't have to know. I'm not expecting you to have all the answers." She brushed some hair out of his eyes. "All I'm asking is for you to let me be a part of this. Let's figure this out together."

"Okay, we will." He promised. "But not tonight. This emotional roller coaster I just went on has me absolutely knackered."

"Of course." She kissed his cheek. "Want to go to bed, then?"

"Together?" He didn't know exactly why he asked.

Perhaps a part of him thought she was still hurting enough to not want to sleep beside him. Perhaps a part of him was still furious enough not to want to sleep beside her. He wasn't really sure, but asking seemed fitting.

"Um, yes. That is," Hermione hesitated, "if _you_ want to."

Did he?

"A part of me wants nothing more." He confessed, not daring to look at her as he continued." But another is still furious."

"I know." she stroke his cheek. "Being angry usually means a lot of different emotions, it can be bit overwhelming."

Draco didn't speak but just nodded.

"Does it help sorting it out a bit when I tell you that being angry is usually a reaction of either being sad, scared or offended?" She hesitated a bit, as she knew he didn't always appreciate it when she tried to psychoanalyse him.

He sighed, a little annoyed,

"Yeah, well, I'm three out of three, then."

Hermione bit her bottom lip,

"I don't know if it makes you feel any better, but maybe identifying those three feelings instead of just one diffuse angry one makes it more graspable?"

And for some strange reason it did.

Yes, a part of him still felt devastated, but now he could sort out why. And as he thought about those reasons, Hermione being the connecting thread, he realised it didn't matter.

Yes, he was sad he'd hurt her and sad she'd hurt him.

Yes, he was scared not knowing what was happening with his body, and what that would mean in the long run.

And yes, he was offended _as hell_ she'd told Ginny.

But it didn't really matter, because nothing was beyond repair. It _would_ blow over. Eventually.

He looked at her and shook his head slightly, a small smirk spreading across his lips,

"How do you do that?"

Looking at him, somewhat confused, she asked,

"Do what?"

"How do you just say words and all of a sudden things makes sense to me? It's like you're doing magic with my mind." he murmured, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.

"Oh. It's not magic. I'm just asking you questions which help you see things differently, and by that giving yourself answers you didn't necessarily know you were looking for." she rambled, making Draco to groan inwardly and regretting he'd ever asked for an explanation. "See, the Muggles use this all the time and it's quite-"

"So, your bed or mine?" he interrupted, running his fingers through her hair.

"Oh. Um, why don't you surprise me?" she said, and for the first time that night he saw a smile spread across her lips.

His heart, which had shattered as the tears ran down her face, suddenly felt warm and a lot more whole again and he decided to do just that; surprise her. He picked her up in his arms and carried her bridal-style out of the kitchen. Being caught completely off guard she let out a small giggle in surprise and then wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head against his shoulder. He walked into the living room and placed her down on the sofa. When he'd sat her down he lingered a bit, haft sitting, half lying over her.

"I love you, Hermione. Did I ever tell you that?" he murmured, running his left hand over the side of her head.

"Not nearly often enough." She grinned and moved over so he could lie down next to her. "I love you too."

Their sofa wasn't the biggest one, but lying on their sides they could both fit fairly comfortably. When Draco had managed to squeeze down behind Hermione and wrapped an arm around her waist she half-turned to towards him,

"I must say this _is_ a surprise. I thought we were going to bed."

"Yeah, but we haven't decided which room that will be ours, so I reckon the living room is a neutral zone." he explained. "And besides, I really fancy watching Scooby Doo and fall asleep on the couch with you the perfect way to end this day."

He summoned blankets and pillows and soon trousers, shirts and socks were rudely discarded in a pile on the floor. Undressing while still lying on the sofa couldn't be considered the least bit seductive or sexy as it meant a lot of awkward positions and grunts. But it didn't matter. When you're best friends you don't care about those things, do you? And perhaps tonight that was just what they needed; to fall asleep while lying on the sofa, watching a children's' cartoon just being best friend.

* * *

 **The way I see it Draco does need someone to give him a little nudge out the door when it comes to the world of** _ **feelings**_ **as we've spent up until now in this story learning his emotional intelligence has potential for improvement. It seems like Hermione's sort of got it though, doesn't it? Perhaps she might be able to help him sort if out, or is she too close to this? What do you think? Please, let me know!**


	16. Chapter 16

**So, finally an update, huh?**

 **I bet you thought I was never going to finish this story. (Sorry about me going M.I.A. )**

 **Well, to be honest, I had doubts myself. Well, not really doubts about whether or not I would finish the story, more like** _ **when**_ **.**

 **I do realise many might have given up on me, and I don't blame you. Anyway, I hope someone's still out there who still finds this story interesting enough to continue reading it.**

 **But now I'm back and I do have a plan. I plan on writing two more chapters after this one, and hopefully that will wrap up the story. If I'll need more chapters I'll obviously use more.**

 **Anyhow, long overdue, but here's another chapter!**

* * *

The next morning Draco woke up as Hermione shifted on the sofa beside him. Well, in all fairness, more like on top of him. Even before he opened his eyes he felt his back hurt from the ruthless bedding. The telly was still on and playing with the volume turned down to barely audible. There was a man sporting a dull suit talking about a dull product, or at least Draco assumed the product was dull due to the poor aesthetics on the package the man in the dull suit was holding up.

Hermione shifted again and opened her eyes, blinking annoyed at the light shining into the living room.

"Morning." she greeted sleepily.

"Morning." he greeted back, trying to stifle a yawn. "Did you sleep well?"

She shifted down, placing her head on his chest,

"No. I slept terrible."

"Yeah, me too." He let his hand run down her back absentmindedly. "My back is killing me. If this is a new routine until we decide which room we'll make our room we'll need a bigger sofa."

She nodded absentmindedly and sat up swinging her legs down from the sofa and wrapping part of the blanket around her.

"Shit! Is that the time?" she cried as a digital clock appeared in the bottom left corner of the telly. "I'm going to be late."

Hermione rushed into the bathroom and seconds later Draco heard water running. Making himself comfortable with this additional space Draco put his arms behind his head. The digital clock showed 8:37, which meant he'd probably be late as well, but he really couldn't be bothered. Instead he watched as Hermione reappeared from the bathroom, ran around the flat in search for clothes, work paper, a travel coffee mug and shoes.

Seven minutes later Hermione was ready to leave.

"I'm off to work, then. See you tonight." She bent down and kissed his cheek.

"Dinner from Al's?" he offered.

"Mhm, sure. But I'm popping by your parents after work to drop off a book your mother wanted to borrow." she smiled before she flooed away.

…

"You're late."

Draco barged into his office panting slightly from the light jog from the elevator.

"I know. Sorry." he panted.

Blaise turned around as he was sitting in Draco's office chair,

" _Very_ late."

"I know!" Draco rolled his eyes. "But I brought breakfast."

In hopes that this would suffice as a peace offering Draco dumped the paper bag containing the breakfast onto the desk.

"Mate, we were _going out_ for breakfast. Like we do every Thursday." Blaise eyed the bag unimpressed. "The point of going out for breakfast is that we're getting _out_ of the office."

"Yeah, but since I was late we don't have time to go out, so we're eating it here. I have a meeting with my father in 20 minutes." Draco muttered as he walked over to the hanger to hang his jacket and saddlebag, groaning slightly from the pain in his back as he hung his clothing.

"Backache?" Blaise asked as he pulled the coffee and sandwiches from the bag.

"Mhm." Draco sat down in the chair in front of his own desk. "Sort of a rough night."

Blaise smiled cunningly at him,

"Is that a sex injury? Did Hermione break your back?"

"What? No!" Draco shook his head and reached for the coffee. "If you must know I slept on the sofa and it was very uncomfortable."

Blaise peered at his friend,

"So you had a quarrel then? Hermione kicked you out of bed?"

"If Hermione kicked me out of her bed why wouldn't I just go and sleep in my own bed? Why would I go and sleep on the sofa?" Draco asked, now slightly annoyed at this lack of logic.

"Alright, why did you spend the night on the sofa then?" Blaise asked, calmly.

"You really want to know? It's sort of a long story."

"I've got time." Blaise leaned back in Draco's chair and took a sip of the coffee.

Sighing deeply Draco said,

"Alright, Hermione and I did have a fight."

"Aha!" Blaise exclaimed in triumph. "I knew it!"

"Yeah. But we made up." Draco clarified. "And after we did it felt sort of wrong to sleep in either of our rooms."

"Like a territory sort of thing? The room you'd have slept in would have won the fight?" Blaise asked.

"Something like that." Draco ran his hand through his hair. "At least that's what I felt so I reckoned the sofa would be neutral. So we both slept there."

Blaise leaned forward,

"And now I can't help but wonder what the fight was about."

Draco bit his inner cheek,

"Well, honestly we both sort of fucked up a bit."

Blaise looked at his friend, encouraging him to continue.

"Yeah? Care to make a short story long?" he asked when it was apparent Draco wasn't planning on continue his story.

Draco shifted uncomfortably in his chair,

"Hermione told Weaslett something that didn't sit well with me."

To no one's surprise Blaise arched an eyebrow and asked,

"What did she tell her?"

"Yeah, I'd rather not get into that. Rather embarrassing." Draco muttered and turned his attention to one of the turkey sandwiches. "But if I hadn't been such a cunt in the first place she wouldn't have felt the need to talk to Ginny."

"Right." Blaise stroke his hand over his chin. "So Hermione told Ginny something about you?"

Taking a sip of his coffee Draco grunted in confirmation.

"Something personal?" Blaise guessed.

"Obviously." Draco muttered.

Blaise let out a small sigh,

"Mate, is this thing still bothering you?"

"Yeah. A bit." Draco confessed.

"But you don't want to talk about it?" Blaise asked.

Draco rolled his eyes at his best friend,

"No, it's personal."

"Well." Blaise placed his chin in his hand in a thinking-pose. "How do you expect it to go away then?"

Draco glared at Blaise.

Blaise smiled and leaned forward,

"C'mon mate. Something is obviously bothering you. It's me. You know you can talk to me about anything."

Taking a deep breath Draco braised himself,

"Hermione and I are in love with each other and are now sort of dating. The trip to Croatia was our first date and the night you called we had naked dinner in the terrace. One thing led to another and the mood was just right… And we were just about to… you know… have sex… but I couldn't do it!"

Blaise clearly wasn't expecting this and blinked a few times before he nodded at Draco to continue.

"And then the next morning in the shower the same fucking thing happened, but this time I had a _physical_ reaction. We've tried a couple of more times but every time I'm about to… _enter_ … it goes limp! What the fuck is happening to me? This has _never_ happened like this before. And now it's been weeks, hell, even a month and I still can't do it."

Out of fear he'd just never ever dare to say it again, Draco took a deep breath,

"And now I'm _scared_ , Blaise."

Blaise leaned forward and across the desk,

"Why? What scares you?"

"I finally fall in love with a brilliant witch, something I never saw in my own future until now. And now, when I actually consider myself having a healthy relationship to sex and relation, I can't do it." Draco's voice choked a bit, partly from frustration and partly due to the slight panic he felt as he put words on his fears. "I mean, sex has always been the most natural thing to me. No biggie, never! I've done it a million times before. _This_ shouldn't be the problem in our relationship. But now it is. So what if I won't be able to ever have sex with Hermione?"

He paused for a moment,

"And what if she then makes the sensible thing and calls it quits?"

There was a long pause while both men were careful not to make eye contact. After several moments Blaise said,

"Wow. That sucks for you, mate."

Draco rolled his eyes,

"Regretting you asked?"

His friend chuckled dryly,

"No. Not in the least. I'm glad you shared, just give me a minute to process it."

"Blaise, tell me honestly; has this ever happened to you?" Draco asked, looking at his friend.

"Hmm, let's see." Blaise said, rubbing his chin. "Have there been occasions when I couldn't get it up? Of course, yeah."

A sliver of hope light in Draco's eyes.

"Yeah? When? What happened?" he asked.

Blaise rubbed his chin again,

"There's the obvious once when firewhiskey-dick was the cause. There've also been times when I just wasn't in the mood for one reason or another, you know. Like sometimes my dick doesn't want to be around someone and then it just doesn't happen."

"Yeah, obviously _that's_ happened to me too before." Draco sighed. "But both me and my dick really want's to be around Hermione because she's the most wonderful and beautiful person I've ever met. My dick seems to agree until it's supposed to _enter_. Sod's fucking law!"

Blaise gave his friends a sympathetic look,

"Yeah, it's a real curse, mate."

Draco's head jerked up,

"Do you really think so? Could it be an actual curse?"

Blaise shrugged,

"I don't know. I didn't mean it literary when I said it. But now that _you_ said it I have to admit stranger things has happened."

"But who would curse me? I'm adorable!" Draco exclaimed.

"Yeah, you're basically Saint Potter himself." Blaise deadpanned.

"No need for insults." Draco snarled. "But I see your point. I might not be as lovable as I think."

"Yeah, but you're not a monster either." Blaise said. "I can't think of an obvious suspect."

"How about Hermione? Could _she_ be cursed?" Draco wondered.

"Who would curse her? And how would that even work?" Blaise shook his head.

"Well if it's a curse, never mind who is the cursed one, it must have happened sometime in the last two months, wouldn't it? But I can't figure out when it would have happened." Draco scratched his head in frustration.

"Hang on." Blaise said. "What if there actually is a curse, but it was neither cast at you nor Hermione. And what if it happened earlier, much, much earlier? "

"What are you saying, Blaise?" Draco's eyebrows knitted in confusion and suspicion.

"Hear me out, alright?" Blaise leaned forward over the desk again. "Let's take a look at what we know, shall we? You've been around and it's safe to say this is a new problem for you. Correct?"

Draco nodded and Blaise continued,

"And now, when you're trying to have sex with Hermione, this problem suddenly arises."

Draco nodded again.

"And you come from a long pureblood line of prejudice, narrow minded old sods who were internationally known for hating muggles and muggleborns and who never showed any scruples against using dark magic."

Draco swallowed hard, not liking where Blaise was heading.

"Can I ask you, Draco, is Hermione is the first muggleborn you've ever tried to have sex with?" Blaise asked.

Draco scratched the back of his head,

"Um, yeah. She is, actually."

"So, do you think there's a slight chance your ancestors might have _taken precautions_ to make sure the Malfoy bloodline stays pure?" Blaise asked.

Draco buried his face in his hands,

"Oh fuck. You're right, aren't you?" His voice was muffled and barely audible. "How do I find out if it's a curse and if so; how do I break it?"

"Step one really should be to confirm there _is_ a curse." Blaise said, and then cringed. "But you're not going to like my suggestion."

Draco looked up at his friend,

"If your suggestion is that I shag someone other muggleborn I'll just tell you no right now. That's not happening."

"Oh no, this is much worse." Blaise said and Draco couldn't help but notice a certain chipper in Blaise's voice. "You could just ask your father."

Draco stared at Blaise as if he'd just proposed a murder.

"And how should I do that you reckon?" he sneered. "I'd just love to see how that pans out! 'Hey, father. Have you ever shagged a muggle or muggleborn? And if so, did you dick go limp?'"

Blaise cringed.

"So maybe you should open with a joke?" he suggested.

"Yeah." Draco deadpanned. "Like 'knock, knock'."

"Who's there?" Blaise asked.

"A frustrated son."

"A frustrated son who?"

"A frustrated son who can't get his dick up when trying to shag a muggleborn. Has that ever happened to you, father?"

Blaise burst out laughing,

"Oh, that was a dreadful joke but still so hilarious!"

Had this issue not been so close to him, Draco would probably have laughed too. The thought of actually saying that to his own father was so ridiculous it _was_ amusing.

"What's hilarious?" Lucius, who just walked into Draco's office, asked. "And why is Blaise in your chair? Did this company have major re-organisation I wasn't aware of?"

Draco and Blaise stared at each other, neither of them sure what to say.

Lucius walked through the office and around the desk.

"Get out of the chair, will you, Blaise?" Lucius said and Blaise scrambled out of the chair.

Draco rose from his chair as well and made an effort to round his desk but Lucius sat down in the chair instead. Draco knitted his brows and sat down in the visitor's chair once again.

"So." Lucius intertwined his fingers and placed his hands on the desk. "What's going on?"

"Well, as far as the company goes, nothing is out of the ordinary." Blaise said and started walking around the desk. "In fact, everything is so great here there's no need for this meeting at all. I'd suggest you use this time to discuss other things. Family history, for example. That's always interesting, isn't it?"

"Yeah, thanks mate. I've got it from here. Cheers." Draco muttered.

"Do you, Draco?" Blaise arched his eyebrow. "Do you?"

Lucius rolled his eyes and took some papers out of his briefcase,

"Any how, I've given the risk management strategy a second look and I find-"

"You what?" Draco interrupted. "You decided to have a second look at a document that's already done with? Gringotts already agreed to the loan, months ago! But you still take a look at it?"

Lucius' eyebrows flew up into his hairline. He wasn't used to his son telling him off like this.

"And not to mention you barge in here, even though you _don't even work here_ anymore, and you take a seat in the executive chair. That's my bloody chair now, father. Stop trying to backseat drive this company!" Draco roared.

"Backseat drive?" Lucius repeated, mildly confused.

"It's a muggle expression. Means that someone else is trying to control the one in charge." Blaise prompted in a stage whisper.

"Right, thanks, Blaise." Lucius said. "Draco, what's the matter with you today? Do you need to blow off some steam?"

"You know what, Lucius?" Blaise smiled cheekily. "I think that's _exactly_ what he needs. The problem is he _can't_."

"That's enough!" Draco barked. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please leave now, Blaise. I'll talk to you later."

Blaise nodded and left the office.

Lucius, being a man who didn't like to be kept waiting, sighed impatiently,

"Alright, what's going on? Are you having a bad day, son?"

"After a bad week, at the end of a bad month." Draco sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"I have a feeling this isn't business related. Should we talk about this somewhere else?" Lucius asked, as he silently wondered when exactly he'd started playing the role as parent. He had to admit; this was new to him. But he also had to admit he liked having a more functional relationship with his son.

"Yeah, I'll cancel the rest of my day. See you at the Manor in a bit?" Draco suggested.

* * *

 **So… Is Draco on to something? Or is he about to embark on a wild-goose chase?**


	17. Chapter 17

"Whiskey?" Lucius offered some time later as Draco stepped out of the fireplace at the Manor.

"Please." Draco muttered. "And lots of it if we're really going to talk about this."

He walked over to one of the armchairs by the fireplace as Lucius poured them both a generous glass of firewhiskey.

"So." Lucius said as he handed one glass to Draco and sat down in the armchair beside him. "What's on your mind, son?"

Draco ran his finger around the rim of the glass,

"Um, I don't really know to ask this, but… um… What do you know about our ancestors and their attitude towards muggles and muggleborns?"

Lucius gave off a dry laughter, but when Draco just kept looking at him without so much as a twitch in the corner of his mouth Lucius stopped.

"Oh, that was a serious question." Lucius said. "They weren't big fans. I though you knew that, Draco."

"Yeah, obviously I know _that_." Draco snarled, leaning back into the backrest of the chair. "I was just wondering if you knew of anyone in our family who ever had a fling with a muggle? Or even muggleborn for that matter?"

Lucius searched his mind while sipping on the firewhiskey.

"Well, rumour has it that your great, great, great, and so on, grandfather, Lucius Malfoy I, attempted to court Queen Elizabeth I back in the 16th century. But that hasn't officially been confirmed nor denied. All we know is that _if_ he tried he wasn't successful." Lucius said.

"So _you_ never had a brief fling with a muggleborn?" Draco asked, disappointment evident if his voice. "I mean _never_? Not even once on a drunken night when you were young and wanted to rebel against grandpa?"

Lucius eyed his son suspiciously,

"What are you really asking me, son?"

Draco rolled his eyes,

"For the love of Merlin, father. I'm trying to ask you if you ever had sex with a muggleborn. A muggleborn witch to be precise."

Lucius looked just as if his son had smacked him in the face with a frying pan.

It took him a few moments to collect himself and when he finally had he said,

"No. I've never done something like that. No."

"Alright." Draco didn't even try to hide the disappointment in his voice. "Did you ever… _try_?"

"Alright, I can't help but notice you seem rather disappointed by the fact that your father has never gotten together with a muggleborn." Lucius placed his glass on the side table. "Where is this coming from?"

A part of Draco really regretted putting himself in this situation, as this was _the_ worst conversation he'd ever had with his father. Well, certainly top three any way.

 _Never mind that now._ He thought. _If this is a chance to get everything I've wanted since I was thirteen any and all amount of embarrassment will be worth it._

"Well, I currently find myself in a bit of a pickle. I'm in a sort of a relationship with a witch, who happens to be muggleborn, but I can't seem to… _perform_. Couldn't do it to save my life." Draco ran his hands through his hair again. "And _this_ shouldn't be the problem we're having. I anticipated things like me being immature, me being afraid of commitment, me having a sort of dysfunctional personality or me being emotionally incompetent would be problems in this relationship, but never _this_. And to state the facts; I've never been with a muggleborn before. And _this_ has never been a problem before."

"What has never been a problem before?" Narcissa, who'd no doubt heard her husband and son talking and come to see what they were doing at the Manor at this time of day, asked.

Lucius turned to his wife,

"Draco is in a relationship with a muggleborn witch but can't have intercourse with her so now he wonders if there might be a curse on our bloodline making it impossible for Malfoy men to have intercourse with muggleborns in order to keep the bloodline pure." He looked at his son. "Isn't that what you're asking, son?"

Draco rubbed his forehead,

"Great, let's involve more people in this. But yeah, in a nutshell; that's what I'm asking."

Narcissa's face lit up,

"You're in a relationship with a muggleborn? Is it Hermione?"

"Really? That's your question?" Draco deadpanned.

Draco walked over to the bar and poured his mother a firewhiskey as well which he handed to her before she sat down next to her husband.

"So, have we got any old family books that might be helpful?" Draco asked as he resumed his seat.

Neither of his parents answered him, but just kept looking at him in the most unnerving way.

"Seriously. Is it Hermione?" Lucius asked, quirking an intrigued eyebrow at his son.

Draco sighed loudly and rolled his eyes,

"Oh, for the love of Merlin!"

"So, is it?" Narcissa smiled.

"Yes, obviously it's Hermione!" Draco sneered. "Whom else could possibly be worth the mortification of involving my parents in my sexual deficiency?"

Narcissa's eyes filled with tears of joy and she choked out,

"Oh, Draco! That makes us _so_ happy! So happy that you finally realised you'd be _perfect_ for each other!"

She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dried her eyes and Lucius patted her thigh in a comforting motion.

"Your mother's right, Draco. We're really pleased you're finally involved with someone who's bright, compassionate and who can actually handle your, um, _quirks_." Lucius nodded.

"Alright, stop telling me how great Hermione is; _I_ know that already!" Draco snapped. "And I did _not_ come here to get your blessing on our relationship!"

"Right, of course." Narcissa rose and walked over to the bookcase and started scanning the backs of the books. "If we want grandchildren, Lucius, we'd better get to the bottom of this curse."

"Grandchildren? Who said anything about grandchildren?" Draco almost yelled, but then paused for a second. "You know what? Sure. If that's what's going to end this disasters nightmare; it's fine by me."

The three Malfoys then spent a significant part of the day engaging in what could only be described at the weirdest family activity they'd ever undertaken together. Narcissa stayed in the library pulling out all and any books that could be deemed even the slightest helpful. In the meantime Draco and Lucius interviewed a large number of the portraits hanging around the Manor. This, unfortunately, proved fruitless as the portrait of Abraxas Malfoy overheard them and made it his mission to follow them around the Manor telling anyone within earshot "what an abomination this was". Eventually Draco was at the end of his tether and got in to a very loud argument with the portrait of his grandfather. The argument consisted mostly of personal insults being shot back and forth between the two. It was only (somewhat) resolved when Lucius dragged his son away from the portrait as Draco was kicking and screaming that Abraxas was "an old bigot who was a stupid moron with his head too far up his arse to have an informed opinion".

"Draco, that's really no way to talk to family." Lucius said once Draco had calmed down and they were on their way back to join Narcissa in the library.

"But he deserved it!" Draco protested.

"I know, and I agree with you. But he's still your grandfather." Lucius sighed.

"But he said I was a disgrace to the family and that flesh-eating ants ought to feast on my eyelids!" Draco shot. "Is that the way to speak to your grandson?"

"Of course it's not." Lucius scoffed. "But if you don't mind me saying so; you're a better man than he ever was and I expect more of you than I do of him."

Draco rolled his eyes at his father,

"Don't try to manipulate me into acting civil to the portrait who's not only called me a disgrace to my family but on top of that goes out of his way to insult Hermione every time she's set her foot in this house."

"I know he gives her a hard time." Lucius said as they walked into the library. "That's why we lock him in a cupboard now. Trust me, he gives your mother and me a hard time as well."

As the two men resumed their seats by the fireplace Narcissa looked up from a book.

"Abraxas?" she cringed.

"Yeah, he's on a rampage again." Lucius rubbed his temples. "As long as we're looking for ways to break this curse we might as well see if we find a way to remove his portrait from the Manor."

"You're looking to break a curse? What curse?"

The three Malfoys looked at each other before realising Hermione was standing at the entrance to the library, the book she'd told Draco earlier that day she was dropping off in her hands.

When no one answered her but just gave her looks of confusion mixed with awe she walked over to them,

"What's going on?"

Still, no one answered her. When Hermione had made her way to them Narcissa got up and embraced Hermione in a long, warm hug.

"Thank you." she said into Hermione's hair.

"Um. You're welcome?" Hermione said, giving Draco a confused look over Narcissa's shoulder. "It's just a book."

Much to Hermione's surprise Lucius suddenly also joined the hug.

"Oh, we have so much more to thank you for than a book." he said, and when he did he sounded so sincere Hermione actually got a little scared.

She gave Draco a sharp look while mouthing ' _what the hell is going on?_ '.

"Right, parents, let go of Hermione. You're scaring her." Draco said and his parents obliged. "Hermione, they know. About us. I told them. And apparently they are very, _very_ happy."

"We are, we really are." Narcissa beamed. "Now we've just got to figure out what this horrible curse is and how to break it."

"Ah." Hermione said, now much more comfortable with a little context. "Which brings me back to my initial question; what curse?"

"That's right." Draco said, walking over to stand beside Hermione. "I didn't get the chance to tell you yet, but I think I've figured it out. My, our, _problem_. It's got to be a curse cast on the Malfoy's in order to make sure the bloodline remains pure!"

"Draco and Lucius has talked to most of the portraits in the Manor and now we're going through books." Narcissa gestured at the very tall pile of books she'd pulled from the bookcases.

Hermione looked between the three Malfoys and the tall pile of books, not entirely sure of what to make of this.

"Hang on. You think there's a curse that makes you…?" She tried, but didn't really know how to finish the sentence.

"Deflate? Yeah! I do." Draco nodded.

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest,

"A curse which affects you because I'm muggleborn, I take it?"

"Yeah!" Draco said, nodding even harder.

"Well." Hermione looked from Draco to his parents. "You've all been to so much trouble I really wish I didn't have to tell there _is_ no curse doing this."

Draco, Lucius and Narcissa all looked utterly gobsmacked.

"Hang on!" Draco protested. "What? How can you be sure? This is probably some form of dark blood magic that's never been officially written about!"

"Yeah, no. It's not." Hermione gave him a kind smile. "I wish you'd asked me before you'd gone through all this trouble of involving your parents. And the whole Malfoy family for that matter. I could have told you; it's not a curse doing this."

"But how can you be absolutely sure?" Lucius asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, come now. You're all three very intelligent people. I'm sure you can figure out why." Hermione said. "Why couldn't a curse possibly refuse anyone from having… well… _sex_ with a muggleborn?"

No one answered her immediately. The three just looked at each other, wondering if there really _was_ a simple answer to this.

After a few moments Hermione lost her patience,

"Alright, let me help you get there a little faster. If the purpose of a curse was to keep a _pureblood_ family mainly that; _pureblood_ , the curse would have to know whether or not a mate would be pureblood, halvblood or muggleborn, right?"

"Yeah, sure." The three Malfoys agreed.

"Right, the curse would have to be aware of, in this case, my heritage." Hermione said. "So, we also know that there _are_ absolute laws to magic; some things are. There are rules. Like for example it's impossible to bringing people back from the dead, create food or water and _true_ love. Magic follows certain logic, right. When we use magic we tell the magic to do certain things, right. And we can create rules for magic to follow, but it still has to be within the realm of the magic law. The point is; magic doesn't have a will of it's own. We always tell it what to do."

"Yeah, and curses follow the logics of magic and the rules which it had been predisposed by the curser to follow. This is basic understanding of magic. _Everyone_ knows this." Draco said, knitting his eyebrows. "What are you getting at?"

"The rule for this curse would be for it to affect the cursed one when in very close proximity of a certain _blood status_. In order for this curse to work we must ask ourselves; how would, following the logic of magic, the curse know the _blood status_ of, in this case, me?" Hermione asked.

There was silence, a _long_ silence, before Lucius blurted out,

"Oh, who knows? It's been far too long since I went to Hogwarts!"

"Fair enough." Hermione said, patiently. "How do _you_ know my parents are muggles?"

"Um." Draco scratched the back of his head. "You told us?"

"Correct." Hermione smiled. "And I know you come from a long line of magic ancestors because you _told_ me."

"But you couldn't _tell_ a curse, could you?" Narcissa said. "Curses and magic needs stimuli based of off conditions, right?"

Hermione smiled again,

"Also correct. The curse would need to react to, in this case, my _blood_." She made a pause, taking a long look at each of the Malfoys, waiting for them to now state the _very_ obvious flaw in their precious hypothesis. But when no one spoke she almost lost her patience altogether,

"Now would be the time to realise why the curse you're talking about _couldn't_ exist, or the very least not behave the way you're suggesting!"

Draco bit his lip, thinking hard for a moment,

"No, I still don't understand."

"For the love of-" Hermione snapped. "If I took blood samples from the four of us and examined it; would I be able to tell if we had magic parents or not just by looking at our blood?"

"I'm sensing the answer here is _no_." Lucius said, slowly.

Hermione had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the lot of them.

"That's correct, Lucius." she said, trying her hardest not to sound condescending.

In all honesty; the Malfoys were bright people. They read and kept up with the latest developments and research done in the field of magic. She knew this. But for them not being able to come to this conclusion sooner, honestly, it did disappoint her a bit.

"So, the property of our _blood_ is the same, regardless if our parents were muggles, witches or wizards. It's still _magic_ blood. Magic law tells us this. This is _very_ basic magic research. _Blood status_ , on the other hand, is a social invention. It exists only because we say it does. No curse would _ever_ be bothered responding to something made up without an already existing base." She made a pause, again. "That's how I know you're not cursed, Draco."

Draco sighed and sat down an the armchair again,

"Well, looks like I spoke too soon when I called my grandpa an old bigot earlier today. Turns out I'm not that enlightened myself."

"Yeah, I actually expected you to know this." Hermione gave him a small smile and sat down on the armrest of his chair. "But I think perhaps you got a little caught up in the moment."

Draco turned to face her,

"Something like that, yeah. I really wanted it to be a curse, though."

She kissed the top of his head,

"I know, love."

"Bollocks." He cursed. "This means it's something _psychological_ , doesn't' it? Something I've got to _sort out_ and _work_ _through_."

"Well, why don't we just leave you two alone, then?" Lucius said as he and Narcissa slowly started backing out of the library at the first sign of a deep and emotional conversation.

"Oh, get a grip, will you? I won't start sorting though any emotional trauma _here_." Draco rolled his eyes. "But in all honesty, thank you for your support today."

"We'll always support you, Draco." Narcissa smiled. "We'll see both of you later, alright."

And with that, both Lucius and Narcissa left.

"What do you say we head home?" Hermione suggested.

"Best thing I've heard today. I can't wait to get out of here." Draco said and stepped up by the fireplace. "After you."

* * *

 **I'd like to give my view on mainly two tings addressed in this chapter;**

 **Firstly; the way I think of magic is sort of like coding or programming, if you understand what I mean. So you'd have basic components of magic, right? Some things are possible and some just isn't, given our current understanding on the matter. So to use a muggle example; using coding and programming we can create artificial intelligence, but not natural intelligence. I believe that spells and curses basically are commands telling these different components magic is made up of how to behave during certain circumstances. What are your thoughts? Does what I'm trying to say make any sense?**

 **Secondly; the way I see it "blood status" is a social construction designed to consolidate power. In the sense of biological and physical terms it isn't real, though. But of course, pragmatically speaking; due to the current societal structure "blood status" does indeed have an unmistakeable effect, which** _ **is**_ **all too real. Hermione says that the fact that magic blood doesn't differ "** is _very_ basic magic research **". Why then, does the Malfoys' then still think a curse could be causing this? They really** _ **should**_ **know better, shouldn't they? My guess is the answer can be found in their social heritage. In this chapter we got to hear from three generations of Malfoys. The grandfather who's basically, to quote Draco, "** an old bigot who was a stupid moron with his head too far up his arse to have an informed opinion **". The father who's now beginning to accept an idea but is still struggling to practise it fully. And the son who believes himself to be up-to-date, and really is, but sometimes he forgets how deep the roots goes; it wasn't that long ago the grandfather's outlook on life was his own.**

 **But luckily, we live and we learn, even if just one step at the time. And things** _ **are**_ **moving forward.**

 **So, this A/N was a wall of text, I know. But I'd be very interested to hear what you think about this or anything else in the chapter!** **So please, let me know your thoughts!**


	18. Chapter 18

**So, this is the last and final chapter of this tale.**

 **I really do hope you like it!**

* * *

"Are you mad at me?" Draco asked as soon as they were back in their flat.

"Why do you think I would be mad at you?" Hermione asked, calmly, as she walked into the kitchen.

Draco walked after her,

"Because I'm an idiot for not knowing all magic blood is the same? For jumping to the conclusion that this was a curse? For telling Blaise and my parents fairly explicit details of our love-life, or rather, non-existing love-life?"

He gave off a forced chuckle.

Hermione turned around, facing him,

"I'm a bit sad that you, yet again, decided not to talk to me. But I'm not angry."

She turned and opened the fridge,

"Drink?"

"Why are you so casual about this?" Draco asked, now more than _a little_ suspicious. "And yes, please. Do we have any ginger ale?"

Hermione pulled two bottles from the fridge, opened them and handed one to Draco.

"I'm not upset because I realise you need to do you. You'll talk to me when you're ready. There's no use for me pushing you." she said and hopped up on the counter, her feet dangling over the floor as she took a sip of her beverage.

Draco shoved his one hand in his pocket and took a sip as well,

"You know, I was just thinking that if this wasn't happening with you, I'd talked to you way before ever speaking to Blaise. And _waaay_ before even considering speaking to my parents."

"Well." Hermione said, tilting her head slightly. "How come you don't, then?"

In all honesty, he did know the answer to her question, but he also knew just how ridicules it'd sound. So instead of answering her straight away he sighed and sat down at the kitchen table so that he still faced her as she sat on the counter.

"You're going to think I'm batcrap crazy when I tell you this." He chuckled dryly. "But I would talk to _Granger_ about these sorts of things. Not to Hermione."

There was another silence as Hermione placed her bottle beside her,

"I'm not saying I think you're totally sane. But in your defence; Granger and Malfoy have known each other a hell of a lot longer than Hermione and Draco have." She paused. "Perhaps it _should_ be Malfoy and Granger who talks about this?"

Draco looked up at her, his eyebrows raised,

"Are you saying we should press pause on _this_? On _us_?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying." She hopped off the counter and sat down in the chair beside him. "At least not for very long. All I'm saying is that maybe we still need to be Malfoy and Granger from time to time. I think that maybe we still need them."

Draco nodded slowly,

"Yeah, maybe. Granger and Malfoy _are_ pretty great. I know Malfoy wasn't afraid to tell Granger anything, whereas Draco is scared shitless to talk to Hermione about this."

Hermione smiled,

"So do you think Malfoy could maybe talk to Granger? I mean, when he's ready?"

"I'll make sure he does." Draco said. "Promise."

Hermione gave him an appreciative smile and they both drank in silence.

"So, Granger." Draco said after putting down his bottle again. "You'll never _believe_ what happened to me when I was with this witch a few weeks back."

Hermione couldn't help but giggle a little. But she quickly pulled herself together,

"Really? You've met someone, Malfoy?"

"Yeah, and I'll tell you, Granger; she's the mirror of my dreams." He absentmindedly turned the bottle standing on the table as a sheepish grin spread across his lips.

"Oh, look at you, all giddy when you think about her." Hermione smiled. "So tell me what happened."

"Yeah so, we the first time we were about to have sex everything felt really great until we were actually _going_ to." Draco ran his hand through his hair. "Right when it mattered my dick went limp. It was out of the blue. _Never_ happened to me before. But now it's happened every time we've tried since."

"Hm. That _does_ sound strange." Hermione scratched her chin. "You know, usually when sex doesn't happen it's because one of them doesn't want it to happen. Did that thought ever occur to you?"

"Oh, _she_ wants to." Draco assured her. "I can tell she's beginning to get frustrated it hasn't yet."

"Alright, fair enough. But I was talking about _you_ , Malfoy." She raised an urging eyebrow at him. "Do you think it's possible _you_ don't _want_ to have sex with her on some level? Are you feeling a little scared, perhaps?"

There was a long moment of silence as Draco replayed almost everything that had happened ever since their trip to Croatia.

"You know what's really _scary_ , Granger?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"No, what?" she asked, as casually as she could manage.

"The first time her and I were together I actually declined sex because, get this, I was scared. We were kissing and suddenly I was overwhelmed with emotions, which scared me a bit. And now here you are, a month later, suggesting I'm scared of something and that's what's causing this problem." Draco observed her suspiciously. "Do you want to weigh in on something here?"

Hermione merely pressed her lips together and arched one eyebrow at him,

"Malfoy, I couldn't possibly guess what's going on inside your head and what you're feeling or not feeling. But let's explore that possibility, shall we?"

Draco sighed loudly,

"If you know what's causing this; can't you just tell me? I'm sure it will go a lot faster than having me guess."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him,

"Sure, I could offer my hypothesis on the matter. But tell me; how would that make you more equipped on handling your own emotions?"

"What are you talking about? I don't have to _handle_ my emotions. I've got you for that, Granger." Draco said. "Although, Blaise did mention earlier that you probably would get sick of me for being, and I quote, 'an emotionally unavailable cunt'."

The corner of Hermione's mouth twitched,

"Sharp man, Blaise."

"Fine. Let's explore what I'm scared of." Draco sighed. "Right now I'm scared she'll get sick of me for not being able to shag her and dump me."

"Is it possible you're scared she'll dump you even if you do manage to shag her?" Hermione asked, and very bluntly so.

Draco stared at her for a while before he answered,

"Of course I am." He swallowed. "Of course I'm scared I'll cock it up somehow. You know, she actually did warn me not to be 'all Malfoy about this'."

"Malfoy, can I tell you something?" Hermione asked.

"Anything."

"She's scared too. Terrified, even. You mean so damn much to her and she's scared shitless she'll lose you if this doesn't work-"

Draco cut her off,

"Granger, you're really not helping here."

"I wasn't finished." Hermione said, sharply, and Draco waited for her to continue. "She's scared, but she would never have gone into this if she wasn't convinced the two of you could make it."

"But how can she so sure?" he asked. "Because I always thought I'm a bit of a lose cannon."

Hermione gave him a kind smile,

"Oh, I agree. Sometimes you are." She placed her hand on top of his, resting on the table. "But I don't think you could ever do something that would be a deal breaker. She knows you well enough to know your goals and values as well as your quirks and oddities, and she can live with it. All of it."

Draco withdrew his hand and leaned back in his chair,

"Sounds to me a lot like she's settling, to be honest. I don't want that."

Hermione sighed, shaking her head,

"No, sweetie, listen to me." She leaned forward and placed one hand on his knee and smiled. "What I'm trying to say is that she knows you well enough to know there won't be any nasty surprises. When she plays out all possible scenarios of how this could go, she can't think of any which ends in disaster."

Draco raised a sceptic eyebrow, still not convinced how this was supposed to reassure him.

"Yeah, this sounds better in my head. Let me try again." Hermione bit her bottom lip. "I'm sure all days won't be wonderful, but most of them _will_ be. The bad days still won't be something that can't be sorted out, and the good and wonderful days will give more than the bad cost. And when I say she loves you, Malfoy, I mean _all_ of you."

And with that a stone lifted from Draco's chest,

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." She smiled at him. "But now the question remains. Forget the lack of sex for a moment; do believe the two of you will make it?"

He didn't even need to think about it,

"Granger, if I can't make it with her, I can't make it with anyone. Her and I've got all the qualifications needed for a long and happy relationship. I love her to bits and I want to show her that every way possible."

Hermione released a breath she'd been holding,

"Then there you go. That's all you need to know. Don't worry about shagging her, it'll come in due time."

"You're the greatest friend I could ever ask for. You know that right?" Draco said, a sort of sheepish smile once again spreading across his lips.

"Yeah, I deserve a fucking trophy." Hermione mocked.

Draco laughed,

"Noted. I'll get you one for your birthday."

"Well, now that you've told me you better." Hermione glanced up at the clock hanging over the table. "Oh shit, it's late. And we forgot about dinner."

"Are you hungry? I can get you something now." he offered and stood up.

"No don't bother. I had a big lunch." she said.

"I'm not that hungry either. We had a late lunch at the Manor."

"Popcorn and a movie before bedtime?" Hermione offered. "We could watch Batman."

"I'll get the movie, you'll get the popcorn." He'd barely finished the sentence before he was out of the kitchen, on his way to the telly.

…

"Yep, still the greatest movie ever made." Draco stated as the credits rolled.

"So you say." Hermione said and stretched.

She was lying down on the sofa, her legs resting in Draco's lap.

"So." he said, kneading her right foot. "Care to make it a double feature?"

"You've got another Batman movie?" she asked.

"No, I was going to suggest we watch it again." he smirked.

Hermione shook her head but couldn't stop a smile spreading across her lips,

"Normally I'd love to, but I'd rather turn in." she yawned. "Both my back and my psyche needs a bed right now after the disasters night on this very sofa."

Draco nodded absentmindedly as Hermione rose from the sofa, stretched again and picked up the popcorn bowl.

"Right, I'm off to Bedfordshire." She bent down and kissed his cheek. "Good night."

"Night, love." He watched as Hermione carried the popcorn bowl with her towards her bedroom,

"Hey, Granger?"

She stopped and turned around,

"Yes, Malfoy?"

Rising from the sofa, he took three steps towards her,

"You know, I was thinking."

Another step closer,

"That maybe you'd want to go to bed with me?"

Still carrying the popcorn bowl, Hermione swallowed,

"Yeah? Any particular reason in mind?"

He stepped closer to her, so the popcorn bowl was now the only thing between them,

"Yes." He brushed her hair back behind her shoulders so her neckline was fully visible, and as he did a whiff of her vanilla scented perfume hit him. "I _want_ to. Maybe you do to?"

"I really do." She whispered. "I would've spilled the popcorns if you hadn't asked."

"Yeah, you would've." he murmured as he moved even closer, pressing the bowl into them both.

Now he was close enough to perceive the sent of her face cream she'd just put on. As he watched her chest heave up and down in a slightly quicker pace than normal he realised his was doing just the same.

He put his hands on her shoulders, moving them slowly up, around the back of her neck. With his hands on either side of her head he tilted her face up, towards his. It was a gentle motion and Hermione's lips parted slightly followed by her tongue moistening her lips. As she closed her eyes a small sigh escaped her.

Draco intertwined his fingers in her hair as he pulled her towards him. Their lips met, and as they did Hermione dropped the popcorn bowl. Truth be told, Draco half-expected her to stop what they were doing and whip out a broom, or her wand at the very least, to clean it up; but Hermione didn't even seem to notice the mess of popcorn by their feet. Instead, he suddenly felt her tongue in his mouth, an unexpected, but very welcome, intrusion.

Putting her newly freed arms to use, Hermione wrapped them around his neck and jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her closer. As he did his erection pressed against her.

"Mhm." she moaned. "Hi there."

"Shush. Don't talk to it. Might scare it away." he said between kisses. "Your bed or mine?"

"Yours."

It was a short walk from the living room to Draco's bedroom, and although their lips never truly parted during this walk somehow all of their clothes were off, leaving a trail back to the popcorn-mess, before Draco, not so tenderly, tossed Hermione on his bed. She didn't seem to mind the roughness the slightest, though, and didn't have the patience to wait for Draco to lie down so she proceeded to pull him down on top of her.

His hands flew up to her hair, tugging and puling at it as their lips joined once more. As she dragged her nails along his back he had to repress a shiver. She wrapped her legs around his midriff again, positioning his erection right where she meant.

"No foreplay, Malfoy." she murmured.

He let out a groan,

"Agreed, Granger."

Not wanting to overthink what he was doing, he pressed forward, entering. And lo and behold; his dick didn't betray him this time! With her fully wrapped around him, he stopped to look at her. As their eyes met Hermione couldn't help but let out a throaty laugh. It wasn't mockery or because she found something funny, no. This was the kind of laugh you get when anxieties leaves you after plaguing you for far too long. Draco let out the breath he'd been holding and kissed her once more.

The activity they then engaged in wasn't really sweet, tender or sensitive. It was loud, with both of them either making all sorts of guttural noises, yelling out profanities, agreeing with one another or calling some sort of higher power. It could also be described as bit rough; both of them having scratch marks, teeth marks and even a bruise here and there to show for it after. At one point Draco accidentally head-butted his headboard, not that he let that stop him, but he did feel a little dizzier than expected for a few moments. Still, it was everything Draco had hoped it would be; yet at the same time nothing like he could ever have dreamed.

Maybe Draco wouldn't really call it rough afterwards, no. He'd probably describe it as, should he ever have to, as passionate. But he wouldn't only describe it as passionate. See, passionate doesn't necessarily mean love or loving, and _this_ was. Truth is this was all of the above; loud, a bit messy, rough, urgent, passionate, loving and very, _very_ lovely.

And it was with that experience Hermione rolled off Draco some time later, both them drenched in sweat, panting heavily and completely spent.

"I only have one regret." Draco said, after having caught his breath.

Hermione turned to face him, resting her head on her hand,

"Really?"

"And that's not doing _that_ to you sooner." He faced her as well.

She beamed at him, and he couldn't help but grin himself.

"It was worth the wait." She traced her fingertips along the side of his face. "And I don't just mean the sex."

"You're worth everything, and more!" He ran his fingers through her hair as he brushed his lips against hers. "But on a completely different topic; can I ask why you chose this bed?"

"Honesty I reckoned you needed a win today." she confessed. "I hoped _your_ bed would be your win."

"Yeah, but I told you months ago." he said, as he continued playing with her hair. "You sleep here; this is _your_ bed. That's why I could never shag women here."

"Well, you sort of just did, though." she teased.

He smirked,

"No, because you're not _women_ , Granger. I can't tell you you're not incomparable to others."

Hermione laughed,

"That's really sweet, Malfoy. Now try it without the triple negative."

"My previous objections to having sex in my bed was that it was too intimate, but intimate is exactly what I want with you." he said. "You're my best friend and the love of my life."

She leaned in, running her fingertips along his jawline, placing a light kiss on his lips,

"That was the right answer."

She turned around, pressing her back against his front and Draco put his arm around her and started gently running his fingers through her hair.

"So, there are right and wrong answers?" he said. "Is this how it's going to be; you bossing me around?"

"I've always bossed you around, Malfoy." she said, calmly.

"No, I've always _let_ you boss me around, Granger." he answered, equally calm. "Because I've always loved it."

It wasn't long after that they both drifted off to sleep, still in the tight embrace. Even though they'd done that so many nights before, this still felt very different and new, but at the same time extremely familiar and safe.

* * *

 **Well, there we go. The end of this story. I really hope you enjoyed this light-hearted story! Please, let me know your thoughts, as I really love hearing what you think!**

 **Cheers!**

Ps.

Oh, I did promise references, didn't I?

In this story there are heaps and heaps of references to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, some to BoJack Horseman, The Simpsons and a tiny nod at Game of Thrones and Django (did anyone get those? I don't think they were very clear). There are also references to a couple of Ed Sheeran songs and The Streets. I think that's it, at least. I hope I haven't missed any. Did you catch them? Did you catch any I didn't just mention?


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